LIBRARY 

OF  THE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


BOOKS 

BY 

FRANCIS  H.  UNDERWOOD  LL.D. 

Recently  Published. 

QUABBIN.    The  Story  of  a  Small  Town 

With  Outlooks  upon  Puritan  Life 
Twelve  Illustrations  and  Portrait    Cloth  $1.75 

In  Press 
A    NORTHERN    CONSTELLATION 

Being  Biographies  of  American  Poets 
comprising 

LOWELL  (now  ready)  EMERSON 

LONGFELLOW 
WHITTIER  HOLMES 

THE  BUILDERS  OF  AMERICAN 
LITERATURE.  Biographical  and 
Critical  Sketches  of  Leading  Ameri 
can  Writers 

First  Series  Contains  such  as  were  born  pre 
vious  to  1825 

Second  Series    Contains  those  born  since 


LEE  AND  SHEPARD  PUBLISHERS 
BOSTON 


*  *  *  * 

* 


Constellation 


* 

LOWELL 


or  THE 
UNIVERSITY 

OF 


MR.    LOWELL   AT  THREE    SCORE   AND   TEN. 


THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  APPRECIATIONS 


JAMES    RUSSELL    LOWELL 


BY 
FRANCIS   H.    UNDERWOOD   LL.D. 

FORMERLY    U.    S.     CONSUL   AT   GLASGOW 

AUTHOR    OF     "  QUABBIN  "    "  HANDBOOKS    OF    ENGLISH    LITERA 
TURE  "    "  THE    BUILDERS    OF    AMERICAN 
LITERATURE  "    ETC. 


BOSTON 
LEE   AND    SHEPARD   PUBLISHERS 

10   MILK    STREET 
1893 


COPYRIGHT,  1893,  BY  LEE  AND  SHEPARD 


All  Rights  Reserved 
THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 


TO 
OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES 

IT  seems  not  only  appropriate  but  almost  oblig 
atory  to  dedicate  these  Recollections  to  you,  — 
Lowell's  life-long  friend,  associated  with  all 
memories  of  old  Cambridge,  and  the  last  of  an 
historic  group  of  authors  whose  fame  is  the 
pride  of  New  England, 
i 


210630 


PREFATORY 


THIS  Memoir  is  wholly  distinct  from  the 
author's  Biographical  Sketch,  which  was 
published  about  a  dozen  years  ago,  while 
Lowell  was  Minister  to  Spain. 

The  author's  intention  is  to  furnish  in 
compact  form  the  important  facts  in  the 
poet's  life,  with  a  brief  account  of  his 
works,  and  to  record  some  personal  im 
pressions  and  reminiscences.  For  sev 
eral  years  the  author  lived  in  Cambridge, 
and  was  one  of  a  circle  of  half  a  dozen  of 
Lowell's  friends  which  met  frequently  at 
Elmwood  and  elsewhere.  His  opportuni 
ties  for  knowing  the  poet  in  his  brightest 
days  were  exceptional.  As  most  of  the 
members  of  that  circle  are  dead,  it  seems 
to  be  something  like  a  duty  for  the  author 
to  recall  and  fix  his  impressions  before 
they  become  dim.  No  faithful  study,  made 
at  first  hand,  of  the  character  and  personal 
traits  of  such  a  remarkable  and  richly  en- 


IV  PREFATORY 

dowed    man,   can  be  without   interest  and 
value. 

Within  the  limits  of  a  small  volume  like 
this,  there  can  be  few  details  or  discussions : 
for  any  fulness  of  statement  and  for  an 
adequate  analysis  of  Lowell's  works,  the 
reader  must  wait  until  a  biography  on  a 
larger  scale  shall  appear.  This  Memoir, 
however,  will  supply  timely  information 
for  readers  who  cannot  dwell  long  upon 
the  life  and  works  of  any  one  man. 

The  author  gained  his  knowledge  of  Low 
ell  from  long  personal  intercourse,  supple 
mented  by  information  from  the  late  Dr. 
Estes  Howe,  who  married  a  sister  of  the 
poet's  first  wife,  and  from  the  late  Robert 
Carter,  Lowell's  intimate  friend,  and  co- 
editor  of  the  brilliant  and  ill-fated  Pioneer. 
Excepting  the  Biographical  Sketch,  before 
referred  to,  it  is  believed  that  no  original 
account  of  Lowell  has  been  published. 
That  Sketch  must  have  been  the  source  — 
generally  unacknowledged  —  from  which 
most  newspaper  articles  were  drawn. 

In  September,  1891,  while  in  Scotland, 
the  author  was  asked  to  write  an  article 
upon  Lowell  for  the  Contemporary  Review. 


PREFATORY  V 

He  wrote  out  of  a  full  mind  and  memory, 
without  the  opportunity  to  consult  books 
or  old  friends ;  and  the  article  appeared  a 
month  later.  That  article,  with  additions 
and  changes,  forms  the  basis  of  the  present 
Memoir.  He  did  not  make  use  of  the 
Sketch,  for  in  the  course  of  years  the  point 
of  view  had  changed. 

It  is  announced  that  selections  from 
Lowell's  letters  are  about  to  appear,  edited 
by  his  near  friend  and  literary  executor, 
Professor  Charles  Eliot  Norton.  The  let 
ters  are  sure  to  be  full  of  interest;  for 
Lowell  showed  consummate  skill  and  tact 
in  his  correspondence,  as  in  familiar  talk 
with  friends;  and  it  would  not  be  surpris 
ing  if  these  volumes  should  become  the 
most  attractive  part  of  his  works. 

Acknowledgments  are  due  to  Messrs. 
Houghton,  Mifflin,  &  Co.,  for  permission 
to  copy  the  two  poems,  "The  Foot  Path," 
and  "Beaver  Brook." 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  A  Poet's  Place  in  the  World.    A  Poet's 
Flowering.     Lowell's  Ancestors.     His  Father 
and  Mother.    Elmwood  as  a  Home.    Reading 

and  Education 7-I7 

II.  New  England  Awakening.     Cambridge 
as  it  was.     Lowell  studies  Law.     Renounces 
"  the  World."     Love  the  Motive.     First  vol 
ume  of  verse.    Edits  a  Magazine.    Is  Married. 
Second  volume  of  verse.     Unpopularity.     Por 
traits  of  Two  Idealists.     A  Lover  of  Nature  .    18-30 

III.  The  Coming  of  /Sosea,  and  what   He 
did.    Wit  and  Humor  contrasted.    "  A  Yankee 
Idyl."  "The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal."  "A  Fable 
for  Critics."     Two  more    volumes    of    verse. 
Death  of  Mrs.  Lowell.     "The  Two  Angels,"  31-39 

IV.  Sunday  Afternoons  at  Elmwood.     The 
Whist  Club.      Lowell's  Joyous  Nature.     Fas 
tidious  Habits.     Lowell  Institute  Lectures  on 
British  Poets.     Succeeds  Longfellow  as  Pro 
fessor.     His  Theories  of  Finance   and   Book 
keeping.     Cider  Bottles.     Periods  of  Industry  40-47 

V.  Origin  of  the   Atlantic  Monthly.     Suc 
cess    assured  by    the    "Autocrat."     Atlantic 
Dinners.      Sketch   of    Leading   Contributors. 

3 


4  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Holmes  and  Emerson  on  Architecture.  Din 
ner  for  Lady  Contributors.  Boston  and  Edin 
burgh.  A  Provincial  Note.  What  were  the 
Rates  of  Payment 48~58 

VI.  Lowell's  Second  Wife  and  Her  Influ 
ence.     Dr.   Estes  Howe.     Anti-Slavery  Poli 
tics.     Hosea  Biglow  and  the  Civil  War.     Sec 
ond  Series  of  "  Biglow  Papers."    The  Master 
piece.  Lowell's  Heroic  Nephews.   Edits  N.  A. 
Review.     Reads  his  "  Commemoration  Ode  "   59-68 

VII.  ''Under  the  Willows."    "Gold  Egg." 
Nicotia.    Bartlett's  Trout.    Where  "  The  Foot 
Path  "leads.     Prophetic  Poems.      Inclines  to 
Spiritual  Themes  and  to  Landscapes.     Scen 
ery  the  Background,  not  the  Subject  of  High 
est  Poetry.   "The  Cathedral."  Two  volumes  of 
Essays.     Not  disturbed  by  Critics.     Tribute  to 
Agassiz.     Three  Noble  Odes 69-82 

VIII.  Lowell's  Upward  Course.     Minister 
to  Spain  and  then  to  Great  Britain.     His  Re 
ception.       His    Loyalty    to   American    Ideas. 
Welcomes  Mr.  Phelps,  his  Successor.  "  Hearts 
ease  and  Rue."     Returns  to  Elmwood.    Is  at 
tacked   by    Disease.     Death    a    Relief.     His 
Funeral 82-88 

IX.  Patriotic  Poetry.     American  Poetry  not 
always  understood  Abroad.    Qualities  in  Low 
ell's  Poetry.     Grace  and  Originality  at  Vari 
ance.     Moral  and  Ideal  Traits.     His  Masters. 
A  Philistine  upon  "Beaver  Brook."     Beauty 
of  Thought  preferred  to  Melody.     A  Philoso 
pher  as  well  as  Poet 89-99 


CONTENTS  5 

PAGB 

X.  The  Noses  of  Great  Poets.     Opinions 
of  a  Physiognomist.     Solidity  of  Understand 
ing  and  Reason.     Elements   of    his  Prose. 
Fireside  Travels.     On  a  Certain  Condescen 
sion  in  Foreigners.      Historical  Essays.     His 
Power  shown  by  Choice  of  Subjects.     Ana 
lytical  and  Constructive  Criticism.    Chaucer, 
Shakespeare,  and  Milton.   Professor  Masson, 
Lessing,  Wordsworth.    Ornaments  and  Allu 
sions.     Duality  of  Lowell's  Mind,     What  is 

Ideal  English? 100-112 

XI.  A  Modern  Cato.  Severe  Satire.   Low 
ell's  Religious  Opinions.    Radical  (perhaps) 
in  Theory,  Conservative  by  Instinct.     Esti 
mate  of  Calvinism  by  Results.     Agrees  with 
Rev.  Dr.   Savage.      Favorite    Authors.      A 
Story  of  Thackeray.    Complaint  of  Lowell's 
Manners.     Courageous   Speech  in  London. 
Presentation  of  Americans  at  Court.     Would 
not  Write  for  Money.     Left  a  Small  Estate. 

The  Lessons  of  His  Career 113-128 

Bibliography 129-133 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE   POET   AND    THE   MAN 


I. 


THE  coming  of  a  poet  is  an  event,  and 
sometimes  marks  an  epoch.  A  poet  of  origi 
nal  force  does  much  to  mould  the  thought 
of  his  age,  and  to  influence  taste,  sentiment, 
and  mental  habitude.  In  ancient  days  his 
songs  kept  alive  the  spirit  of  the  clan  while 
marching  to  battle  ;  and  in  the  intervals  of 
peace  his  ballads  of  love  and  war  were  the 
delight  of  gentle  and  simple.  The  minstrel 
has  gone,  along  with  knights,  palmers,  and 
jesters,  but  in  his  place  has  come  the  printed 
page,  so  that  whoever  will  may  take  hold  of 
all  that  poets  think  and  feel. 

Poetry  now  envelops  mankind  as  with  an 
atmosphere  ;  and  who  can  estimate  its  in 
fluence  ?  Who  can  number  the  households 
that  have  been  cheered,  sustained,  and  con 
soled  by  the  verse  of  Longfellow  and  of 
Bryant  ?  —  the  patriotic  souls  that  have  been 
7 


8  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

stirred  by  the  "  Union  and  Liberty "  of 
Holmes?  —  the  youth  whose  aspirations 
have  been  awakened  by  the  appeals  of 
Whittier  and  Lowell? 

A  poet  who  is  also  a  singer  of  the  divine 
love  and  good-will  is  the  modern  prophet ; 
he  is  the  living  voice  of  primitive  Christi 
anity.  It  is  a  noble  gift  to  conceive  forms 
and  ideas  of  beauty,  but  far  more  glorious 
when  piety,  justice,  and  brotherhood  are 
themes  of  song;  such  poems  may  be 
called,  without  irreverence,  exemplars  of 
"  the  beauty  of  holiness." 

Apart  from  his  poetic  genius,  Lowell  was 
a  grand  man,  and  has  left  an  example  of 
integrity,  courage,  and  patriotism  which 
should  endure.  In  the  leading  classes  of 
this  country  to-day  the  chief  want  is  hon 
esty  ;  the  chief  vice,  selfish  greed.  The 
sense  of  honor  which  scorns  unfair  advan 
tages  in  business,  and  trickery  in  politics, 
seems  to  have  almost  disappeared.  Money 
and  power  are  to  be  won,  even  if  the  whole 
decalogue  stands  in  the  way.  But  a  govern 
ment  of  the  people  has  no  stable  foundation 
except  in  righteousness.  Movements  are 
already  felt,  and  when  the  lowest  strata 
heave,  the  highest  must  topple.  The  ur 
gent  and  immediate  lesson  for  American 


A    POET'S   FLOWERING  9 

youth   is    that    liberty  never   long    survives     ] 
when  truth  and  justice  are  dethroned. 

If  poets  were  produced  as  perfected 
flowers  are,  their  growth  would  be  a  fas 
cinating  study.  And  there  are  analogies. 
Flowers  have  their  times  of  expansion  in 
the  life-giving  sun,  and  of  self-closure  and 
revery  in  the  coolness  of  evening:  they 
reagh  upward  to  breathe  all  favoring  influ 
ences,  still  holding  fast  by  their  roots  to 
mother  earth;  and  when  their  calyces, 
"each  after  his  kind,"  unclose  in  varying 
forms  and  colors,  the  glory  of  their  being 
is  attained.  In  thinking  of  the  blossoms 
of  the  ideal  world  it  is  natural,  by  com 
parison,  to  "consider  the  lilies,"  and  to 
wish  that  all  the  unfoldings  of  thought  and 
feeling  were  as  simple  and  spontaneous  as 
theirs. 

The  student  of  poetry  has  a  task  unlike 
the  horticulturist's,  for  the  latter  knows 
well  the  objects  of  his  care:  he  antici 
pates  their  foliation  and  flowering;  while 
the  budding  poet  often  proves  to  be  a 
specimen  of  a  new  variety,  not  in  the 
books,  and  not  to  be  classified  by  pedants. 

Race,  ancestry,  education,  and  environ 
ment  are  all  to  be  considered  in  the  de- 


10  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

velopment  of  a    poet;   and    to  know  what 
Lowell  was  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the 
.leading  facts  of  his  life. 

Few  families  in  Massachusetts  have 
shown  the  persistent  virility  and  the  con 
tinually  repeated  high  traits  of  character 
which  have  marked  the  Lowells.  They 
are  descended  from  Percival  Lowell 
(Lowle,  it  was  anciently  spelled),  a  mer 
chant  of  Bristol,  England,  who  settled  in 
Newbury  in  1639.  Two  or  more  of  the 
family  were  clergymen ;  and  there  is  still 
in  the  poet's  house,  Elmwood,  Cambridge, 

the  house  in  which  he  was  born  and  in 

which  he  died, —  a  panel  taken  from  the  an 
cestral  home  in  Newbury,  on  which  is  rep 
resented  a  number  of  clergymen,  seated 
at  a  table  with  long  clay  pipes,  but  no 
decanters,  engaged  in  friendly  discussion. 
On  the  pictured  wall  is  seen  this  motto: 
In  necessariis  unitas  ;  in  non  mcessariis  libcr- 
tas ;  in  omnibus  caritas.  The  panel  is  a 
rude  specimen  of  art,  but  rich  in  suggestion. 
In  each  generation  the  family  has  fur 
nished  distinguished  men  and  public  ben 
efactors.  John  Lowell,  the  poet's  grand 
father,  an  eminent  legislator  and  judge, 
drafted  the  clause  in  the  Constitution  of 
Massachusetts  (1820)  which  put  an  end 


HIS  ANCESTORS  II 

to  slavery  in  the  State.  The  poet  was 
prouder  of  this  honor  than  he  would  have 
been  of  a  patent  of  nobility.  Another  of 
the  family  was  the  chief  promoter  of  cotton 
manufacture  in  the  city  which  bears  his 
name.  Another  founded  the  Lowell  Insti 
tute  which  furnishes  free  lectures  in  Boston. 
The  poet's  father,  Rev.  Charles  Lowell, 
D.  D.,  was  for  more  than  half  a  century 
minister  of  the  West  Church  in  Boston: 
but  he  lived  in  Cambridge,  four  miles 
distant,  in  a  house  built  by  the  last  repre 
sentative  of  British  authority  in  the  Prov 
ince;  namely,  Peter  Oliver,  stamp  distrib 
uter,  who,  having  been  waited  upon  "  by  a 
committee  of  about  four  thousand,"  had  re 
signed  his  function  and  left  the  country. 
Dr.  Lowell  was  universally  respected  and 
beloved.  Like  his  ancestors  and  collateral 
relatives,  he  was  a  man  of  solid  and  prac 
tical  ability,  and  had  little  in  common  with 
some  of  his  imaginative  and  versatile 
children.  His  father,  Judge  John  Lowell, 
when  a  youth  of  seventeen  furnished  a 
part  of  the  Pietas  et  Gratulatio,  a  wonderful 
round-robin,  partly  in  Latin,  sent  by  Har- 
.vard  College  in  1761  to  King  George  III. 
The  evidence  of  the  heavy  heroics  would 
not  be  sufficient  to  convict  him  of  being 


12  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

a  poet;  and  it  is  probable  that  James  and 
Robert,  his  grandsons,  were  the  first  of  the 
family  to  write  spontaneous  verse. 

Dr.  Lowell's  wife  was  Harriet  Traill 
Spence,  born  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  the 
daughter  of  an  officer  in  the  United  States 
Navy,  who  was  descended  from  an  Orkney 
family,  and  possibly  from  Sir  Patrick 
Spens.  The  poet  often  fondly  referred  to 
the  well-known  ballad,  and  was  fain  to 
think  that  its  hero  might  have  been  one  of 
his  far-away  ancestors.  It  was  from  his 
mother,  who  was  certainly  of  Scottish,  and 
probably  of  Celtic,  blood,  that  he  inherited 
his  passionate  love  of  poetry,  and  espe 
cially  of  the  old  ballads. 

Dr.  Lowell  died  in  1861.  For  many 
years  previous  he  had  been  a  widower  and 
lived  with  his  son  James.  Though  nomi 
nally  minister,  he  rarely  preached,  but 
made  occasional  parochial  visits,  and  gave 
his  leisure  to  reading.  Memory  brings  to 
mind  a  slender  and  (rather  grimly)  hand 
some  man;  the  ellipse  of  his  lean  face  and 
high  forehead  fringed  with  gray  hair;  his 
eyes  steady  and  not  unkind ;  his  voice  deep 
and  metallic  ;  his  manner  grave.  Intelli 
gence,  veracity,  and  firmness  shone  in  that 
striking  countenance,  but  no  sparkle  of 


HIS   FATHER   AND   MOTHER  13 

the  humor  or  the  lively  genius  of  his  famous 
son.  The  highest  and  noblest  traits  of 
our  race  —  probity,  justice,  and  honor  — 
were  his;  and  so  sensitive  was  he  that 
when  his  eldest  son,  who  was  engaged  in 
business,  became  involved  in  debt,  he  vol 
untarily  parted  with  a  sum  of  money  that 
would  have  made  most  fathers  pause. 
This  son  was  the  father  of  two  youths  who 
died  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion;  youths 
whose  fate  was  the  subject  of  the  most  pa 
thetic  and  inspired  passage  in  Lowell's 
poems.1 

Dr.  Lowell's  second  son,  Robert  Traill 
Spence  Lowell,  was  an  author  and  poet  of 
mark,  a  clergyman  in  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  latterly  a  professor  in  Union  College, 
Schenectady,  N.Y. ,  where  he  died  in  1891, 
not  long  after  his  younger  brother.  The 
subject  of  this  memoir  used  to  relate  with 
glee,  and  doubtless  with  picturesque  exag- 
eration,  the  story  of  an  encounter  which 
took  place  when  the  new  priest  first  came 
home  on  a  visit  after  the  (so-called)  apos 
tasy.  The  father  had  ransacked  his  an 
tique  theological  armory,  and  with  the  un 
conscious  gravity  of  Don  Quixote  shivered 
lances  for  Congregationalism  and  against 

1  "  Biglow  Papers,"  Second  Series,  Letter  x.,  Stanzas  15,  16,  17. 


14  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

the  Apostolic  Succession,  and  gesticulated 
over  the  great  parchment-covered  quartos 
with  which  the  floor  was  strewed.  Still,  the 
good  doctor,  when  in  his  pulpit,  preached 
only  practical  Christianity,  and  never  doc 
trinal  sermons.  This  story  gives  a  hint  of 
a  possible  likeness  between  the  old  Chris 
tian  knight  and  the  Rev.  Homer  Wilbur. 

The  doctor's  eldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Put 
nam,  who  is  (1893)  still  living,  is  an  able 
woman,  a  writer  of  historical  and  political 
essays.  Her  only  son,  Captain  William 
Lowell  Putnam,  just  from  college,  beau 
tiful  as  a  young  Apollo,  and  full  of  prom 
ise,  was  killed  at  Ball's  Bluff  early  in  the 
war.  The  three  slain  nephews  of  the  poet 
were  the  only  males  of  the  generation  fol 
lowing  him.1 

An  unmarried  sister,  Rebecca,  very  re 
tiring  in  her  ways,  died  before  the  poet 
became  widely  known.  It  will  be  seen 
that  there  were  three  sons  and  two  daugh 
ters.  Of  the  five  children  the  poet  was 
the  youngest,  and  was  born  on  Washing 
ton's  Birthday,  Feb.  22,  1819. 

If  poetic  genius  is  smothered  by  luxury, 
it  is  as  surely  pinched  and  starved  by  pov- 

1  See  the  touching  dedication,  prefixed  to  the  "  Commem 
oration  Ode," 


ELMWOOD 


erty.  The  family  was  in  comfortable  cir 
cumstances;  the  father  was  prudent  and 
saving,  and  the  children,  though  brought 
up  in  old-fashioned  simplicity,  never  knew 
want.  The  house  counted  for  much  in  the 
family  happiness.  It  is  sombre  and  with 
out  architectural  beauty,  but  spacious  and 
comfortable.  It  is  set  in  an  ample  grassy 
field  near  Mount  Auburn,  just  away  from 
the  travelled  road,  and  is  surrounded  by 
tall,  thick  sheltering  trees  and  flowering 
shrubs.  It  is  a  fit  retreat  for  a  dreamer  or 
philosopher,  since  no  sound  breaks  the 
stillness  except  that  of  the  wind  in  the  pine 
boughs,  and  the  songs  of  the  many  birds 
that  lodge  in  the  thick  coverts.  The  place 
which  this  garden  held  in  the  poet's  mind 
is  shown  in  many  poems  and  essays. 

The  library  contained  between  three  and 
four  thousand  volumes,  including  an  excel 
lent  collection  of  English  and  French  clas 
sics  in  best  editions,  also  travels,  plays, 
stories,  and  biographies,  the  pick  of  some 
centuries,  known  and  loved  by  the  frater 
nity  of  lettered  men.  In  this  rare  library 
Dr.  Lowell's  children  had  free  range,  and 
to  it  the  poet  in  later  years  made  many 
additions,  including  German,  Italian,  and 
Spanish  masterpieces.  This  was  his  real 


T6  THE   POET   AND    THE   MAN 

education.  He  attended  a  good  private 
school,  and  entered  Harvard  College  in  his 
sixteenth  year;  but  he  was  a  lagging  stu 
dent,  indifferent  to  reproof,  and  at  last 
was  rusticated.  The  place  of  his  rustica 
tion  was  Concord,  and  he  refers  to  it  in 
the  "  Biglow  Papers  "  : ' 

"  I  know  the  village,  though:   was  sent  there  once 
A-schoolin',  cause  to  home  I  played  the  dunce." 

He  was  still  in  banishment  when  the  course 
was  ending;  and  it  is  said  he  saw  the  out 
door  festivities  of  his  class  through  a  rift 
in  the  cover  of  a  wagon  in  which  he  had 
surreptitiously  returned.  He  had  written 
verse  while  in  college,  and  had  been  chosen 
class-poet,  but,  as  the  authorities  refused 
to  remit  his  sentence,  the  poem  was  printed 
and  was  not  read  by  its  author. 

Lowell  often  spoke  of  this,  but  without 
-bitterness;  he  felt  that  the  action  of  the 
faculty  was  just.  He  said  to  the  writer 
that  while  in  college  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  reading  all  the  books  he  came  across, 
excepting  those  prescribed  for  his  course  of 
study,  and  that  he  was  sure  he  would  never 
have  been  allowed  to  take  his  degree  if  he 
had  not  been  his  father's  son.  He  la- 

i  Mason  and  Slidell,  Second  Series. 


READING   AND   EDUCATION  IJ 

mented  this  early  perverseness,  because 
there  remained  so  much  more  to  do  before 
he  could  become  a  scholar.  Still  his  bril 
liant  qualities  were  manifest  from  the  first, 
and  students  and  professors  alike  predicted 
for  him  a  distinguished  career. 

Meantime,  in  his  father's  library  he  came 
to  know  every  rood  in  the  long  highway 
of  English  literature,  besides  making  some 
excursions  in  foreign  territory.  He  had 
the  prescience  of  genius,  and  assimilated 
all  his  eager  eyes  fell  upon  and  his  in 
stinctive  judgment  approved.  He  read  all 
manner  of  out-of-the-way  things;  and  it 
was  seldom  in  his  maturer  years  that  a 
book  was  named  of  which  he  did  not  know 
something. 


1 8  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 


II. 


LOWELL  came  into  the  world  in  a  fortu 
nate  time ;  the  reaction  against  Puritan  rule, 
with  its  narrowness  and  illiberality,  was 
well  under  way.  Thought  was  free.  The 
treasures  of  the  classics  were  opened.  Not 
only  the  fathers  of  Greek  and  Latin  poetry, 
but  Dante  and  Shakespeare,  had  been  re 
discovered.  Scholarship  was  getting  ex 
tricated  from  pedantry.  New  ideas  in 
poetry  and  philosophy  were  brought  from 
Germany  by  returning  students.  Science 
was  preparing  for  its  great  and  beneficent 
career.  With  the  new  era  the  college  and 
the  region  were  becoming  a  recognized 
part  of  the  realm  of  letters  and  art.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  fruitful  period  of 
American  literature,  as  well  as  of  humani 
tarian  philosophy  and  of  boundless  social 
improvement.1  In  that  time  began  to  ap 
pear  the  poems  of  Bryant,  Longfellow, 
Holmes,  and  Whittier,  the  essays  of  Chan- 

1  See  "  The  Awakening  of  New  England,"  in  Contemporary 
Review  for  August,  1888. 


NEW   ENGLAND   AWAKENING  1 9 

ning  and   Emerson,    and   the   histories   of 
Bancroft  and  Prescott. 

It  was  fortunate  also  for  Lowell  that 
what  was  quaint,  picturesque,  and  charac 
teristic  in  the  old  life  had  not  wholly  dis 
appeared.  Perhaps  it  is  partly  due  to  the 
haze  of  distance,  but  there  is  something 
idyllic, —  some  tinge  of  romance,  —  as  one 
looks  back  upon  the  rural  Yankee  of  sixty 
years  ago,  when  men's  faces  and  speech 
had  not  become  as  like  as  pebbles.  We 
know  that  the  old  life  did  not  seem  in  the 
least  picturesque  to  those  who  lived  it. 
All  martyrdoms,  it  has  been  said,  looked 
mean  when  they  were  suffered,  and  the 
poetic  side  of  struggles  and  endurance  is 
dimly  perceived  until  events  have  become 
history.  In  Lowell's  youth  the  provincial 
period  seemed  near.  In  his  essay,  "  Cam 
bridge  Thirty  Years  Ago,"  published  in 
1853,  he  tells  us  that  "old  women,  capped 
and  spectacled,  still  peered  through  the 
same  windows  from  which  they  had  watched 
Lord  Percy's  artillery  rumble  by  to  Lex 
ington,  or  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  hand 
some  Virginian  general  who  had  come  to 
wield  our  Saxon  chivalry."  Plenty  of  peo 
ple  in  Cambridge  spoke  the  old,  rustic, 
chimney-corner  English  now  becoming  ex- 


2O  THE    POET   AND    THE    MAN 

tinct.  The  home-life,  the  dress  and  man 
ners  of  the  elders  had  not  changed  greatly 
from  the  time  of  Bunyan.  The  accompani 
ments  of  the  College  Commencement  and 
of  the  militia  trainings  were  for  the  popu 
lace  what  Bartlemy  Fair  was  for  Londoners. 
Those  festivals  kept  alive  the  traditions  of 
the  old  times,  as  well  as  the  bucolic  speech, 
with  its  billowy  inflections  and  its  nasal 
tone.  In  the  part  of  Cambridge  near 
Boston  called  "the  Port,"  observers  like 
Holmes  and  Lowell  could  take  an  account 
of  the  commerce  of  the  period, —  a  com 
merce  not  in  goods  and  wares  only,  but  in 
jokes,  stories,  pranks,  and  rustic  repartee. 
In  the  essay  already  cited  Lowell  says, 
"Great  white-topped  wagons,  each  drawn 
by  double  files  of  six  or  eight  horses,  with 
its  dusty  bucket  swinging  from  the  hinder 
axle,  and  its  grim  bull-dog  trotting  silent 
underneath,  .  .  .  brought  all  the  wares 
and  products  of  the  country  to  their  mart 
and  seaport  in  Boston.  These  filled  the 
inn-yards,  or  were  ranged  side  by  side 
under  broad-roofed  sheds;  and  far  into 
the  night  the  mirth  of  their  lusty  drivers 
clamored  from  the  red-curtained  bar-room, 
while  the  single  lantern,  swaying  to  and 
fro  in  the  black  cavern  of  the  stables,  made 


CAMBRIDGE   AS    IT   WAS  21 

a  Rembrandt  of  the  group  of  hostlers  and 
horses  below." 

Teaming  continued  to  be  carried  on  by 
those  great  wagons  until  within  the  mem 
ory  of  the  writer. 

From  such  reminiscences  we  see  the 
source  of  our  poet's  knowledge  of  Yankee 
life  and  character,  and  his  familiarity  with 
the  dialect.  A  man  born  since  1850  could 
not  have  written  a  page  of  the  "Biglow 
Papers,"  nor  told  the  inimitable  "Fitz 
Adam's  Story."  That  old  time  has  gone 
by.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find,  except 
in  remote  and  unfrequented  settlements, 
any  survival  of  the  customs  and  speech 
which  Lowell  has  so  vividly  depicted;  so 
that  the  dialect  of  the  "  Biglow  Papers  "  has 
become  almost  obsolete  to  the  younger 
generation  of  readers. 

Carlyle  observes  that  every  day  is  at  the 
convergence  of  two  eternities,  past  and  to 
come ;  but  it  is  important  for  the  poet  that 
the  convergence  for  him  occurs  upon  an 
epoch  of  change.  Behind  the  youthful 
Lowell  was  the  vanishing  age  of  the  rustic 
Yankee,  with  its  audacious  and  far-glan 
cing  wit  and  its  delicious  quaintness  of 
phrase;  while  before  him  was  an  idealiza 
tion  of  memory  and  the  beginning  of  a  new 


22  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

era  of  song.  Happily  for  the  world,  the 
subjects  of  his  humorous  and  satiric  verse 
had  not  all  gone  into  darkness  before  his 
inspiration  and  power  came. 

But  the  poetical  career  was  not  to  begin 
at  once.  Various  symptoms  had  shown 
the  anxious  father  that  the  Benjamin  of 
the  family  was  addicted  to  rhyming,  and 
he  was  inclined  to  connect  this  folly  with 
his  son's  indolence.  So  after  many  exhor 
tations,  and  perhaps  tears,  he  exacted  a 
promise  from  the  young  man  that  he  would 
make  no  more  verses,  but  betake  himself 
to  serious  study.  The  law  was  chosen,— 
a  common  resource  when  a  student  has  no 
vocation  for  anything, —  and  after  some  two 
years  the  degree  of  LL.B.  was  achieved. 
Practice,  however,  has  small  connection  with 
theory;  and  it  was  evident  from  Lowell's 
story,  "  My  First  Client "  that  his  practice 
was  a  good  joke.  Notes  scribbled  on  the 
waste  paper  of  his  desk  began  to  take  met 
rical  form.  The  renunciation  of  the  Muses 
did  not  hold,  and  would  not  hold,  as  the 
father  could  not  fail  to  see.  Pegasus  was 
restive  harnessed  to  a  cart. 

But  a  warning  should  be  interposed. 

"  'Tisnot  the  singer's  wish  that  makes  the  song." 


RENOUNCING    "THE   WORLD1'  23 

The  youth  who  dabbles  in  verse  gener 
ally  deceives  himself.  Young  pretender! 
if  you  have  to  seek  poetic  phrase  and  rhyme, 
stop!  The  tripod  of  the  ancient  oracle 
was  not  worked  by  a  pump.  But  if  the 
Muse  seeks  you,  follows  you,  haunts  you, 
you  will  not  stop ;  you  cannot. 

Another  development  was  in  progress. 
From  a  gay  youth,  fond  of  chaffing,  and 
ready  to  jeer  at  abolitionists,  Lowell  be 
came  a  reformer  and  a  devotee  to  spiritual 
life.  No  more  complete  renunciation  of 
the  "  world  "  was  ever  made,  as  succeeding 
years  were  to  show ;  and  it  was  not  an  easy 
thing  for  a  favorite  of  fortune,  especially 
for  one  with  such  a  buoyant  nature.  Love 
was  the  agent  in  this  conversion.  He  had 
become  enamoured  of  Miss  Maria  White,  a 
young  lady  of  rare  beauty  and  noble  char 
acter.  She  wrote  poems  of  unusual  merit, 
and  one  of  them,  "The  Alpine  Sheep,"  is 
widely  known.  Chiefly  she  was  devoted  to 
the  anti-slavery  cause,  and  made  her  in 
fluence  felt.  The  change  on  the  part  of 
Lowell  was  not  the  passing  whim  of  a 
lover,  but  became  the  steadfast  purpose  of 
a  man.  He  came  to  see  that  slavery  was 
a  contradiction  and  lie  in  the  constitution 
of  a  free  country,  and  from  that  time 


24  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

his  best  efforts  were  devoted  to  its  over 
throw. 

Too  much  stress  should  not  be  laid  upon 
the  good  influence  exerted  by  Miss  White. 
The  main  features  of  Lowell's  character 
were  predestined,  and  its  legitimate  devel 
opment  could  not  have  been  long  delayed. 
Miss  White  was  young,  not  to  say  imma 
ture,  —  a  being  all  delicacy,  purity,  and 
ideality.  Under  the  light  of  her  steadfast 
eyes  worldly  illusions  fell.  To  be  near 
her  was  to  live  in  an  atmosphere  of  moral 
beauty.  Such  was  the  influence  which 
moved  her  lover, —  an  influence  of  which 
neither  was  fully  conscious. 

In  his  twenty-second  year  his  first  vol 
ume  of  verse  was  published:  "A  Year's 
Life."  Love  is  naturally  its  theme,  — 
love,  liberty,  and  lofty  ideals.  The  collec 
tion  has  not  been  reprinted  as  a  whole,  but 
some  of  the  pieces  have  been  preserved  in 
the  complete  edition  of  his  poems. 

Shortly  after,  in  collaboration  with  his 
friend  Robert  Carter,  he  edited  The  Pio 
neer,  a  monthly  magazine  for  which  the 
American  public  was  not  ready.  The  first 
number  contained  two  short  stories  by 
Hawthorne,  poems  by  Mrs.  Browning,  Poe, 
Whittier,  and  Lowell,  and  articles  by  John 


"  THE   PIONEER  "  —  MARRIAGE  25 

S.  Dwight,  William  W.  Story,  and  others. 
Seldom  was  richer  freight  intrusted  to  a 
poet's  argosy.  The  magazine  came  to  an 
end  after  the  third  number.  Probably  the 
publisher's  want  of  business  qualities  and 
experience  was  as  decisive  as  the  lack  of 
public  appreciation;  but  the  literary  taste 
of  the  United  States  in  1844  is  not  recalled 
with  much  pride. 

He  was  married  in  that  year  to  the  lady 
just  mentioned,  and  shortly  after  was  pub 
lished  a  second  volume,  in  which  were 
manifest  maturer  power  and  a  more  mas 
culine  freedom  of  touch.  While  his  devo 
tion  to  his  love  grew  more  tender,  he  saw  the 
world  in  a  new  light.  He  sang  of  the  wrongs 
of  the  poor  and  the  slave;  of  the  empti 
ness  of  life  without  conviction;  the  nul 
lity  of  poetry  without  noble  purpose ;  the 
vapidness  of  preaching  without  piety ;  the 
shame  of  law  without  justice;  the  blank 
horror  of  a  world  without  God.  As  time 
went  on  he  learned  to  purify  his  style,  and 
gain  a  surer  mastery  of  expression,  but  this 
early  impulse  ceased  only  with  his  life. 
Some  of  these  poems  glow  with  the  beau 
tiful  enthusiasm  of  youth ;  they  give  hope 
for  uplifting  the  fallen;  they  rebuke  the 
strife  of  sects  with  parables  of  Christian 


26  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

love.  The  most  vigorous  of  these  is  "  The 
Present  Crisis,"  passages  from  which  have 
been  repeated  by  public  speakers  ever 
since.  Were  it  not  for  an  incongruous 
figure  in  the  final  couplet,  this  would  be 
an  ideal  prophetic  poem. 

But,  at  the  time  when  they  appeared, 
such  a  view  of  Lowell's  early  poems  would 
have  been  received  with  almost  universal 
derision.  Before  1850  an  ordinary  Bos- 
tonian,  as  well  as  most  people  "  in  soci 
ety,"  would  have  said,  if  inquired  of,  that 
Lowell  was  a  hare-brained  fellow  with 
some  knack  at  verse-making, —  a  friend 
of  fanatics  and  come-out-ers,  like  Abby 
Folsom  and  Father  Lamson,  a  man  out  of 
touch  with  the  world,  and  a  dreamer  of 
Utopian  dreams.  And,  so  much  is  the 
judgment  controlled  by  personal  prejudice, 
few  critics  were  disposed  to  consider  his 
claims  as  a  poet.  He  was  more  frequently 
pooh-poohed  than  praised,  and  his  books 
had  very  few  buyers.  It  would  have 
greatly  astonished  the  exalted  society  in 
which  Everett,  Ticknor,  Prescott,  Hillard, 
and  Harvard  professors  moved,  if  it  had 
been  foretold  that  this  long-haired  youth, 
who  consorted  with  Garrison  and  other 
impossible  folk,  and  sat  without  shame 


A   PAIR   OF   IDEALISTS  27 

with  women-orators  and  freed  slaves  upon 
public  platforms,  would  in  forty  years  be 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  Ameri 
cans,  a  satirist  and  poet  of  world-wide  fame ; 
one  of  the  few  great  writers  of  brilliant  and 
learned  prose,  and  the  most  honored  of 
foreign  ministers. 

It  may  be  well  here  at  the  outset  to  take 
a  look  at  him  and  his  wife.  The  portraits 
of  this  pair  of  idealists  painted  by  William 
Page  still  hang  in  the  sombre  entrance  hall 
at  Elmwood;  she,  with  refined  features, 
transparent  skin,  starry  blue  eyes,  and 
smooth  bands  of  light  brown  hair;  he,  with 
serious  face  and  eyes  in  shadow;  with 
ruddy,  wavy,  and  glossy  auburn  hair,  falling 
almost  to  the  shoulders,  a  full  reddish 
beard,  wearing  a  coarse-textured  brown  coat 
and  a  broad  linen  collar  turned  carelessly 
down.  There  are  few  modern  portraits  in 
which  costume  counts  for  so  little,  and  soul 
for  so  much.  In  Page's  time  the  poet's  eyes 
and  forehead,  though  suggestive  of  great 
possibilities,  were  calm  as  a  boy's;  the  for 
bidding  wrinkles  and  nervous  contractions 
between  and  above  the  eyebrows,  shown 
in  more  recent  portraits,  were  the  results 
of  the  long  and  painful  studies  of  later 
years. 


2g  THE  POET   AND   THE   MAN 

It  was  a  time  of  productiveness  as  well 
as  bliss.    Literatures  were  explored,  though 
discursively,     sketches    were    made,    and 
poems  born.     There  would  have  been  little 
in    life   to    ask,    but    for   the    increasing 
fragility  of   his  wife,  and  the   early  death 
of  their  children.     Of  four  or  five  born  in 
their  nine  years  of  wedlock  only  one  sur 
vived.1      The  plainly  dressed   couple,    at 
whose  Titianesque  portraits  we  have  just 
looked,    lived   very    simply,    and    wholly 
apart  from   the  fashionable  world.     They 
were  devoted  to  each  other  and  to  all  good 
,  works,   looking  for  the  speedy  coming  of 
I  truth     and    righteousness.     Generous  and 
beautiful    illusion!     How  dark  the  world 
would  be  to  young  hearts,  if  they  were  to 
see  it  as  after  three-score  it  appears  to  be ! 
There  was  a   season   just  before  the  up 
heavals  of   1848  when  an  ardent  faith  was 
in  the  air,  especially  with  abolitionists  and 
other  spiritually  minded  people.    They  were 
confident  that  slavery,  poverty,  and  crime 
were  to  disappear,  and  human  brotherhood 
was  to  create  a  new  heaven  upon  earth.     It 
was  to  this  end  that  the   poetry  and  the 
daily  aspirations  of  Lowell  tended.     It  is 
said  that  at  one  period,  with  the  intent  of 

i  Mrs.  Edward  Burnett. 


A   LOVER    OF  NATURE  29 

doing  away  with  social  distinctions,  the 
old  family  servants  were  bidden  to  the 
table  of  the  master  and  mistress;  but  this 
was  soon  felt  to  be  an  inconvenience,  and 
the  custom  did  not  long  continue. 

His  love  of  nature  was  an  absorbing  pas 
sion,  and  led  him  to  make  excursions  in) 
all  the  region  about  Cambridge.  He  fol 
lowed  the  silver  windings  of  the  Charles, 
and  mused  under  the  spreading  willows; 
he  roamed  through  the  fringe  of  woods 
about  Fresh  Pond;  he  climbed  the  heights 
of  Belmont,  or  loitered  among  the  Waverley 
oaks,  —  huge  trees  of  unknown  age,  which 
stand  as  if  grouped  for  a  Corot,  —  or  wan 
dered  along  Beaver  Brook,  whose  pretty 
cascade  and  ruined  mill  are  souvenirs  of 
one  of  his  most  perfect  poems;  or,  more 
frequently  still,  he  lingered  among  the 
wooded  knolls  of  the  neighboring  cemetery, 
destined  to  be  his  final  resting-place. 

When  out  for  a  walk  nothing  escaped 
him,  —  not  the  plumage  of  a  bird,  the  leaf 
age  of  a  tree,  the  color  of  a  blossom,  nor 
a  trait  upon  a  human  countenance.  He 
knew  almost  every  bird  by  its  note,  its 
color,  and  its  flight.  He  knew  where  flow 
ers  grew,  and  when  they  should  appear. 
All  this  knowledge  might  have  been  pos- 


30  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

sessed  by  some  observer  with  little  senti 
ment,  but    it  was  with    eyes  of    love  that 
["Lowell    looked   upon  the  world.      It  is  a 
'beautiful  touch  in  one  of  his  dialect  poems 
where  he  says,  — 

"  An'  th'  airth  don't  git  put  out  with  me 
That  love  her  's  though  she  was  a  woman: 
Why  th'  ain't  a  bird  upon  a  tree 
But  half  forgives  my  bein'  human." 

In  later  years  he  made  more  distant 
trips,  to  Moosehead  Lake  and  to  the  Adi- 
rondacks,  where  (in  company  with  Agassiz, 
Wyman,  Emerson,  Howe,  and  Stillman) 
he  met  lumbermen,  trappers,  and  deer 
stalkers,  and  came  to  know  - 

"The  shy,  wood-wandering  brood  of  Character." 


THE   COMING  OF   HOSEA  31 


III 

THE  war  with  Mexico  (1846)  was  brought 
on  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  new  territory 
for  the  extension  of  slavery.  The  action 
of  Folk's  administration  was  looked  upon 
with  shame  and  anger  by  most  Northern 
men.  No  one  was  deceived  by  the  base 
official  declaration  that  war  existed  by  the 
act  of  Mexico ;  yet  from  various  motives 
of  interest, —  political,  personal,  and  "re 
ligious,"  nearly  all  influential  people  con 
tinued  to  oppose  the  agitation  of  the 
question  of  slavery,  —  the  cause  of  the  war 
and  of  most  of  the  troubles  of  the  time. 

Lowell  was  one  day  in  a  lawyer's  office 
in  Court  Square,  Boston,  when  there  was 
heard  without  the  unusual  sound  of  fife 
and  drum.  It  soon  appeared  that  it  was 
a  call  for  volunteers  for  a  Massachusetts 
regiment,  and  the  poet's  quick  indigna 
tion  rose ;  but  his  good  sense  and  native 
humor  soon  got  the  better  of  his  wrath. 
His  friends  in  the  office,  one  of  whom  re- 


32  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

lated  the  incident  to  the  writer,1  long  re 
membered  the  keen  light  in  his  eyes,  and 
his  caustic  comments  upon  the  humiliat 
ing  scene.  A  few  days  later  in  the  Bos 
ton  Courier  appeared  anonymously  the  first 
poem  of  Hosea  Biglow,  introduced  with 
grave  and  felicitous  humor  by  Rev.  Homer 
Wilbur,  delighting  the  anti-slavery  party, 
and  gradually  setting  the  whole  Northern 
people  in  crepitating  chuckles  of  laughter. 
It  was  as  in  France  where  once  an  epigram 
might  shake  a  throne.  Men  upon  whom 
the  inflexible  logic  of  Garrison  was  wasted, 
who  had  listened  unmoved  to  the  matchless 
eloquence  of  Wendell  Phillips,  and  read 
with  indifference  the  burning  verse  of  Whit- 
tier,  gave  in  without  parley  to  this  new 
assault.  Every  one  felt  that  this  ballad 
embodied  the  common-sense,  the  religious 
convictions,  the  Puritan  grit,  and  the  hu 
mane  feelings  of  the  North.  The  con 
centrated  energy  was  resistless.  But  it 
was  something  more ;  the  sharp  thrusts  in 
rustic  phrase,  the  native  wit,  and  the  irony 
which  played  upon  the  lines,  making  them 
like  live  electric  wires,  produced  a  combi 
nation  of  mirth  and  conviction  that  was 
wholly  new.  Unlike  the  unheeded  logic, 

1  Judge  Robert  I.  Burbank. 


THE   FORCE   OF    COMEDY  33 

eloquence,  and  burning  verse,  the  comic 
and  catching  rhymes  went  everywhere  as  on 
wings ;  and  while  men  repeated  the  drol 
leries  the  deeper  import  sank  into  their 
hearts.  Other  poems  followed,  a  running 
fire  of  sarcasm  hard  to  bear.  As  the  war 
went  on  the  position  of  its  Northern  sup 
porters  became  pitiable. 

It  seems  strange  to  remember  that  Sum- 
ner,  while  he  praised  the  points  made  by 
the  then  unknown  Yankee  poet,  regretted 
that  the  ballad  had  not  been  written  in 
English.  But  Sumner  had  no  sense  of 
humor,  and  did  not  see  that  not  only  the 
comedy,  but  the  argument,  gained  force 
from  the  dialect.  Thus,  to  say  the  New 
Testament  teaches  that  war  is  wrong,  is 
not  a  very  startling  proposition;  but  when 
Hosea  says, — 

"  We  kind  o'  thought  Christ  went  ag'in  war  an'  pil 
lage, 
An'  thet  eppylets  wern't  the  best  mark  of  a  saint," 

the  sidelong  irony  offers  to  the  adversary  a 
cutting  edge  instead  of  a  handle. 

The  parson,  too,  is  by  no  means  an  un 
important  character,  being  a  delightful  and 
necessary  complement  to  his  irrepressible 
parishioner  and  protege,  He  has  the  high 


34  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

sense  of  honor  and  ingenuousness  of  Colonel 
Newcome,  a  little  of  the  serious  whimsical 
ity  of  Don  Quixote,  and  a  trace  of  an 
old-fashioned  preacher's  pedantry  and  pro- 
siness.  He  is  strong  in  quotation  from 
unexpected  sources,  and  often  makes  an 
apt  stroke.  He  is  distinctly  a  humorous 
character. 

Wit  and  humor  are  often  confounded,  and 
as  often  bunglingly  defined.  Landor  says, 
"Who  ever  has  humor  has  wit,  although 
it  does  not  follow  that  who  ever  has  wit 
has  humor.  Humor  is  wit  appertaining 
to  character,  and  indulges  in  breadth  of 
drollery,  rather  than  in  play  and  brilliancy 
of  point."  Wit  sparkles  and  explodes  in 
fireworks;  humor  is  exuberant,  consistent 
in  inconsistency,  causing  an  easy  ripple  of 
mirth.  Wit  is  more  common  than  humor, 
for  humor  is  an  attribute  of  genius.  Low 
ell's  creations  are  humorous,  though  some 
of  them  scatter  witticisms  like  rice  at  a 
wedding. 

"The  Biglow  Papers"  is  like  no  other 
book ;  the  comedy  begins  with  the  title-page, 
and  overruns  the  index.  "  The  Notices  of 
an  Independent  Press  "  are  delightful  bur 
lesques  of  the  methods  of  certain  newspaper 
reviewers.  The  prefaces,  notes,  and  com- 


A   YANKEE   IDYL  35 

ments  are  in  perfect  keeping;  serious  in 
one  view,  jocose  in  another:  there  is  a 
back-handed  stroke  in  them  all.  It  is  not 
risking  much  to  say  that  it  is  the  wittiest 
and  best-sustained  satire  in  English. 

When  the  book  was  being  printed  there 
was  a  vacant  page  which  it  was  thought 
should  be  filled.  f  For  that  space  Lowell 
wrote  off-hand  the  now  famous  ballad  of 
"The  Courtin',"  containing  six  stanzas, 
printed  as  an  excerpt  from  a  supposititious 
newspaper  notice.  In  a  subsequent  edition 
he  added  six  more,  and  in  the  collected 
poems  there  are  twenty-four.  Though  the 
first  sketch  contained  the  substance,  yet 
the  added  stanzas  so  fill  out  and  heighten 
the  picture  that  not  one  of  them  can  be 
pronounced  superfluous.  This  ballad  may 
be  regarded  as  a  trifle  by  some,  but  it  is  a 
Flemish  picture  of  manners  and  speech 
in  the  last  generation,  exquisite  in  feeling 
and  treatment;  in  fact,  one  of  those  miracu 
lous  trifles  in  which  the  comic  and  tender 
elements  are  vitally  blended;  which  only 
genius  creates,  and  which  the  hearts  of 
mankind  will  forever  preserve.  We  may 
smile  at  Huldy  and  Zekel,  but  their  Cour 
tin'  is  a  repetition  of  the  world-old  drama, 
the  same  in  palace  as  in  farm-house,  to 


36  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

which  no  son  or  daughter  of  Eve  can  be 
indifferent. 

To  this  period  of  exaltation  and  exuber 
ance  belongs  "The  Vision  of  Sir  Laun- 
fal,"  based  upon  one  of  the  legends  of 
King  Arthur's  knights.  Any  summary  of 
the  beautiful  story  would  be  a  profanation; 
it  is  enough  to  say  that  it  is  a  lesson  of 
brotherly  love  set  in  a  parable  of  holy 
beauty.  The  prelude  of  the  first  part  is  a 
description  of  the  sights,  sounds,  and  odors 
of  springtime  in  New  England;  of  the  sec 
ond,  the  keen  splendors  of  our  Northern 
winter.  The  spring  prelude  is  all  move 
ment  and  ecstasy,  and  came  to  the  poet 
in  a  happy  hour  when  he  had  only  to  dip 
his  pen  in  ink.  Passages  from  this  are 
continually  appearing  in  the  newspapers; 
young  editors  rediscover  it,  and  must  forth 
with  display  specimens.  The  whole  poem 
is  the  overflow  of  a  full  heart,  and  its  com 
position  occupied  less  than  two  days,  dur 
ing  which  he  scarcely  ate  or  slept.  It  is 
by  far  the  most  popular  of  his  serious 
poems. 

"  A  Fable  for  Critics  "  purports  to  be  a 
view  of  a  procession  of  American,  authors 
defiling  before  Apollo.  It  follows  in  plan 
Leigh  Hunt's  mild  "Feast  of  Poets,"— 


A   PASQUINADE  37 

but  with  a  difference.     The  title-page,  in 
black  and  red,  tells  us  that  it  was  — 

"  Set  forth  in  October,  the  2ist  day, 

In  the  year  '48.     G.  P.  Putnam,  Broadway. 

I  The  rhymed  preface  prepares  us  to  fol 
low  a  masked  harlequin  in  a  frolic.  Never 
in  the  New  World  was  there  a  parallel 
instance  of  exultant  audacity.  It  is  the 
gay  humor  of  a  youth  in  the  freedom  of 
an  anonymous  pasquinade,  —  revelling  in 
puns,  clashing  unexpected  and  all-but-im 
possible  rhymes  like  cymbals,  tossing  off 
grotesque  epithets  and  comparisons,  and 
going  in  a  break-neck  canter,  like  that 
of  a  race-horse  let  loose.  And  yet,  under 
neath  the  fun  and  riot,  we  find  outline  por 
traits  and  swift  estimates  which,  though 
not  always  wholly  just,  are  of  marvellous 
acuteness  and  force.  Some  of  the  sketches,* 
—  for  instance,  those  of  Emerson,  Parker, 
Willis,  Hawthorne  and  Whittier, —  in  their 
general  faithfulness  and  power  of  dis 
crimination,  are  the  most  lifelike  minia 
tures  ever  made  of  these  men.  The  sharp 
and  philosophic  discrimination  between 
Emerson  and  Garlyle,  done  so  long  ago  as 
1848,  and  by  a  youth  of  twenty-nine,  is 
something  to  think  of.  The  uproar  raised 


38  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

by  lesser  authors,  who  were  omitted,  and 
by  friends  of  Margaret  Fuller,  who  was 
thought  to  be  lampooned  as  Miranda,  sub 
sided  in  time;  and  to-day  most  critics 
agree  that  this  early  satirical  view  of  Amer 
ican  literature  was  singularly  just  and  pro 
phetic,  and  that  its  hard  hits  and  sharp 
reproofs  were  salutary.  Its  main  counsel 
is  to  avoid  imitation  of  foreign  models,  to 
be  true  to  the  ideas  of  the  democratic  New 
World,  to  be  independent  in  thought  and 
modest  in  expression,  and  to  wait  for  the 
development  of  a  worthy  literature  and  art 
at  home.  Excepting  "  The  Biglow  Papers  " 
and  "  The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal,"  this  poem 
is  probably  more  read  in  the  United  States 
than  any  production  of  Lowell's.  Many  of 
his  admirers  know  it  by  heart. 

In  the  same  year  were  published  two 
volumes  of  collected  poems. 

He  visited  Europe  in  1851,  accompa 
nied  by  his  wife,  and  returned  the  follow 
ing  year.  Her  health  had  long  been  fail 
ing,  and  she  died  in  the  autumn  of  1853. 

After  her  death  he  printed  (privately)  a 
small  memorial  volume  of  her  poems,  with 
a  photographic  copy  of  the  beautiful  por 
trait  by  William  Page  which  has  been 
mentioned. 


LIFE   AND  DEATH  39 

On  the  day  of  her  death  a  daughter  was 
born  to  Longfellow,  whose  house  was  not 
far  from  Elmwood,  and  the  double  incident 
was  the  subject  of  one  of  the  most  imagi 
native  and  exquisite  of  his  minor  poems. 
"  The  Two  Angels." 

"  'T  was  at  thy  door,  O  friend  !  and  not  at  mine, 
The  angel  with  the  amaranthine  wreath, 
Pausing,  descended,  and  with  voice  divine 
Whispered  a  word  that  had  a  sound  like  Death. 

Then  fell  upon  the  house  a  sudden  gloom, 

A  shadow  on  those  features  fair  and  thin; 

And  softly,  from  that  hushed  and  darkened  room, 

Two  angels  issued,  where  but  one  went  in." 


40  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 


IV. 


FOR  some  years  between  1853  and  1859, 
Lowell  received  a  few  of  his  Cambridge 
friends  on  Sunday  afternoons  in  his  study, 
a  front  room  in  the  third  story.  On  Friday 
evenings  there  was  another  gathering,  os 
tensibly  for  whist,  at  the  house  of  each  of 
the  party  in  turn.  Of  those  who  were 
members  of  the  whist-club,  Dr.  Estes  Howe, 
Robert  Carter,  Henry  Ware,  and  Lowell  are 
dead;  the  survivors  are  John  Holmes,  John 
Bartlett,  and  the  present  writer.  In  social 
meetings  Lowell  was  naturally  the  leading 
spirit,  and  the  one  whose  talk  no  one  was 
willing  to  miss;  yet  he  was  never  the  im 
perious  Johnson  of  the  club;  every  one 
had  his  chance.  The  conversation  took  a 
wide  range  over  literature  and  art,  as  well 
as  the  field  of  politics,  on  which  lines  of 
battle  were  forming,  then  little  suspected. 
In  the  tranquil,  peace-loving  North  "com 
ing  events"  did  not  "cast  their  shadows 
before." 

At  the  period   following  his  great   loss 


HIS  JOYOUS   NATURE  41 

he  was  naturally  sobered,  but  still  gener 
ally  cheerful,  and  sometimes  momentarily 
gay.  His  habitual  manner  had  a  mellow, 
autumnal  glow.  His  serious  conversation 
was  suggestive  and  inspiring,  and  a  sense 
of  uplifting  followed,  as  from  seeing  a  play 
of  Shakespeare,  or  hearing  a  symphony  of 
Beethoven.  But  it  was  impossible  for  him 
to  repress  the  bright  fancies  and  droll  con 
ceits  suggested  by  reading  and  conversa 
tion.  Wit  was  as  natural  to  him  as  breath 
ing,  and  when  the  mood  was  on  he  could  not 
help  seeing  and  signalling  puns.  But  epi 
grams  and  puns  were  the  accompaniments, 
and  not  the  end  and  aim  of  his  conversation : 
his  perceptions  were  keen  and  just;  his 
reading  had  been  well-nigh  universal ;  and, 
with  his  instant  power  of  comparison,  his 
judgments  were  like  intuitions.  But  his 
discourse  often  took  on  an  airy  and  tanta 
lizing  form,  and  wreathed  itself  in  irony, 
or  flowered  in  simile,  or  exploded  in  arti 
fices,  until  it  ended  in  some  merry  absurd 
ity.  Such  play  of  argument,  fancy,  humor, 
word-twisting,  and  sparkling  nonsense  was 
seldom  witnessed,  except  in  the  talk  of  the 
Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table.  At  the 
whist-table,  when  he  was  in  a  flow  of  spirits, 
the  deal  was  often  interrupted  by  his 


42  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

audacious  inventions,  his  deft  touches  in 
dressing  a  story,  his  assumption  of  Yankee 
shrewdness  or  clownishness,  or  his  mimicry 
of  antique  pedants.  Sometimes  he  would 
assume  an  imaginary  character,  and  sustain 
it  during  an  evening.  Once  when  a  mem 
ber's  birthday  fell  on  the  day  of  the  club's 
meeting,  Lowell  preceded  the  guest  to 
the  supper-room,  walking  backward,  hold 
ing  a  pair  of  great  silver  candlesticks,  and 
bowing,  like  a  lord-chamberlain  ushering  a 
king. 

Before  he  had  become  worn  with  study 
his  face  was  usually  radiant  with  smiles. 
His  eyes  were  searching  at  times,  but  be 
nevolent,  especially  to  people  of  low  degree. 
A  servant  in  the  writer's  house  who  had 
admitted  Lowell  one  evening,  said  to  her 
mistress  in  naive  admiration,  "  I  declare, 
ma'am,  Mr.  Lowell  has  the  coaxinest  eyes  I 
ever  see  wid  a  man." 

At  that  period  he  was  nearing  the  acme 
of  his  powers. 

His  passion  for  nature  was  kept  alive 
by  walks  in  surrounding  country,  and  by 
occasional  trips  to  aboriginal  forests.  It 
was  the  time  of  anemones,  cardinal  flowers, 
bobolinks,  robins,  and  cat-birds;  of  Maine 
lakes  and  Adirondack  forests;  of  Arthurian 


TRIFLES   SIGNIFICANT  43 

legends,  and  idyls  of  Huldah  and  Zekel. 
These  by  and  by  were  to  give  way  to  the 
exhausting  study  of  Dante,  to  the  burden 
of  criticism  and  the  production  of  poems 
like  "The  Cathedral."  He  was  lithe, 
mobile,  and  impressionable  in  mind  and 
body,  and  at  his  best  for  the  enjoyment  of 
life  and  for  the  delight  of  friends. 

As  an  abolitionist  or  free-soiler  he  was  in 
no  danger  of  being  lionized.  "  Society  "  in 
Boston  and  Cambridge  forgave  no  friend  of 
the  slave  until  long  after;  and  at  that  time 
Lowell  seldom  met  any  but  near  relatives 
or  old  friends.  But  there  was  a  natural 
reaction  against  some  of  the  austere  hab 
its  of  former  years.  The  coarse-textured 
brown  coat  of  the  Page  portrait  was  no 
longer  worn,  the  size  of  the  linen  collar 
was  retrenched,  and  the  auburn  locks  were 
shorter,  though  carefully  kept.  A  velvet 
jacket  was  in  common  use  indoors,  and 
never  man  lived  who  was  more  fastidious 
in  the  details  of  the  toilet.  All  things 
were  in  harmony  with  a  refined  and  delicate 
nature.  One  might  as  soon  expect  to  find 
a  smirch  on  the  petals  of  a  new  Easter 
lily  as  upon  his  linen  or  hands.  Trifles, 
but  significant.  A  photograph  exists, 
taken  in  1854  or  1855,  in  which  he  is  rep- 


44  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

resented  sitting  with  his  face  partly  in 
profile.  The  hair  is  long  (according  to 
modern  notions),  falling  in  soft  waves,  and 
completely  covering  the  ears.  The  face 
appears  tranquil  when  viewed  at  a  dis 
tance,  but  on  closer  inspection  there  is 
perceived  a  subtle  smile  of  which  the  lines 
are  as  elusive  as  those  around  the  mouth  of 
da  Vinci's  La  Gioconda.  Two  of  his  friends 
of  the  whist-club  had  gone  with  him  to  the 
photographer's;  some  good  stories  were 
told,  and  the  picture  shows  that  the  gleam 
of  fun  had  scarcely  left  the  sitter's  face. 
This  curious,  flickering  expression  was 
somehow  lost  in  the  engraving  afterwards 
made  from  tlie  picture. 

In  1854  Lowell  delivered  a  course  of 
twelve  lectures  on  the  British  Poets  at  the 
Lowell  Institute.  They  were  not  printed 
at  the  time,  except  partially,  in  newspaper 
reports,  but  doubtless  many  of  their  ideas 
were  absorbed  in  the  published  essays.  In 
these  lectures  the  qualities  of  his  prose 
style  began  to  be  manifest.  It  was  felt  by 
every  hearer  to  be  the  prose  of  a  poet,  as 
it  teemed  with  original  images,  fortunate 
epithets,  and  artistically  wrought  allusions, 
and  had  a  movement  and  music  all  its  own. 
A  few  friends  from  Cambridge  attended 


THE   POET  AS  FINANCIER  45 

these  lectures,  walking  into  the  city,  and 
more  than  once  in  deep  snow.  The  lec 
turer  humorously  acknowledged  his  indebt 
edness  to  them,  saying  that  when  he  saw 
their  faces  he  was  in  presence  of  his 
literary  conscience.  These  lectures  have 
not  been  published  as  yet,  and  may  not 
be. 

In  1855,  Longfellow  having  resigned  his 
place  as  professor  of  modern  languages 
and  literature  in  Harvard  College,  Lowell 
was  appointed  his  successor,  with  leave  of 
absence,  that  he  might  perfect  himself  in 
his  studies.  He  went  to  Germany,  passing 
most  of  his  time  at  Dresden,  but  did  not 
remain  so  long  as  he  had  intended.  In 
later  years  he  gave  an  amusing  explanation 
of  his  premature  return ;  and  the  story,  per 
haps,  is  not  unworthy  of  being  repeated, 
as  it  is  the  thistle-downs  of  humor  which 
are  apt  to  be  blown  away  from  stately  bi 
ographies.  Lowell  told  the  story  at  a 
whist-party.  "I  had  given  instructions," 
he  said,  "to  my  bankers  in  London  to  no 
tify  me  when  my  balance  was  reduced  to 
a  certain  sum ;  and  then  I  settled  myself 
to  my  studies,  keeping  no  account  of  the 
drafts  I  drew  from  time  to  time.  I  sup 
posed  I  had  still  a  good  sum  to  the  fore, 


46  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

and    a  pleasant  time   in  prospect;    but   I 
was  surprised  one  day  to  receive  notice 
that  my  account  had  touched  the  figure    I 
had  mentioned.     There  was  nothing  to   do 
but  pack  up   and  go  home,  which   I   did. 
Mark  the  sequel !     Some  years  afterward  I 
received  a  letter  from  the  bankers,  stating 
that  owing  to  the   error  of   a  clerk  I   had 
been  charged   with  a  draft  for  so-and-so- 
many  pounds,  which  ought  to   have  been 
debited  to  the  account  of  a  kinsman  of  mine ; 
and  that  sum,  with  compound  interest,  was 
subject  to  my  order.      They  regretted  the 
inconvenience  I  had  suffered  by  the  short 
ening  of  my  visit,  and,  by  way  of  compen 
sation,  they  suggested  an  investment  —  if 
I  did  not  need  the  money  at  once  —  which 
they   thought   would    turn    out    well.       I 
thanked  them   and   asked  them   to  invest 
the  money  as  they  thought  best.     Well,  in 
a  year  I  got  a  draft  for  near  £700.     With 
that  I  refurnished  my  house.     Now  you, 
who  are  always  preaching  figures,  and  Poor 
Richard,  and  business  habits,  what  do  you 
say  to  that  ?     If  I  had  kept  an  account  and 
known  how  it  stood,  /  should  have  spent  that 
money,  and  you  would  not  now  be  sitting  in 
those  easy-chairs,  or  walking  on  a  Wilton 
carpet.      No,  hang  accounts  and  figures !  " 


COSTLY  CIDER  BOTTLES         47 

Before  the  laughter  subsided,  Dr.  Estes 
Howe  (his  brother-in-law)  said  he  was  able 
to  add  a  story  which  would  further  illus 
trate  Lowell's  original  financial  methods. 
Said  the  doctor,  "James,  as  you  know,  has 
some  good  apple-trees;  and  a  few  years 
ago  he  made  a  quantity  of  cider,  and  then 
set  about  looking  for  bottles.  He  found  a 
good  number  and  filled  them,  but  still  there 
was  a  surplus  of  cider.  So  what  did  he 
do,  but  ask  half  a  dozen  friends  to  supper, 
send  in  to  Parker's  for  the  *  feed, '  and  to 
Pierce's  for  a  case  of  champagne,  merely 
to  get  bottles  for  that  cider! " 

This  was  Lowell's  airy  way  in  early  life, 
when  at  leisure;  and  this  characteristic 
trait  cannot  be  omitted  in  any  account  of 
him.  But  all  things  had  their  turn.  After 
a  period  of  indolence  he  would  take  to 
his  desk,  where  he  "toiled  terribly."  In 
serious  talk  he  was  as  strenuous  as  any  of 
his  Puritan  ancestors.  To  the  world  he 
was  courteous,  but  reserved,  with  a  due 
mingling  of  dignity;  to  inferiors,  especially 
generous  and  considerate ;  to  the  vulgar  and 
presuming,  a  glacier;  to  his  family  and 
near  friends,  the  most  delightful  and  sun 
shiny  being  that  ever  came  from  the  Au 
thor  of  joy. 


48  THE  POET  AND   THE  MAN 


V. 

THE  Atlantic  Monthly  was  started  in  the 
autumn  of  1857.     It  was  the  project   of  a 
young  enthusiast,  who  desired  to  bring  the 
literary  influence   of   New  England  to  aid 
the  anti-slavery  cause.      Four  years  before 
(1853),    the   magazine   was   to  have   been 
undertaken   by  the    publisher    of    "Uncle 
Tom's    Cabin;"    but  when   all  things  ap 
peared  to  be  ready  he  changed  his  mind 
and  declined  to  go  on.     For  that  magazine 
Lowell  sent  his  poem  "The  Oriole's  Nest." 
After  that  the  projector  continued  his  con 
ferences  and  correspondence  with  leading 
writers,    and,   the    due    co-operation    hav 
ing  been    secured,   the    firm    of    Phillips, 
Sampson,   &    Co.,   was  finally   induced  to 
become   the    publishers.       The     influence 
which   brought    this    about    came    largely 
from  Mrs.  Stowe,    who    saw    Mr.  Phillips 
almost  daily,  and  from  Mr.  William  Lee, 
a  junior  member  of   the    firm.     The  pro 
jector,  who  then  lived  in  Cambridge,  natu 
rally  consulted  his  neighbors,  Lowell  and 


/A**.  /r&>~  flu, 


h 

tfi  """^    *f  fa 


The  stanzas  in  fac  simile  are  from  a  poem  first  entitled 
•'  The  Oriole's  Nest."  The  MSS.  in  possession  of  the  author 
ibear  the  date  of  1853. 


ORIGIN   OF    "THE   ATLANTIC1'  49 

Longfellow.  It  is  not  to  be  understood 
that  it  was  ever  intended  to  make  the  mag 
azine  an  organ,  or  that  it  should  be,  ex 
cept  occasionally,  a  vehicle  of  anti-slavery 
doctrine.  At  that  time  literary  periodi 
cals  in  the  United  States  were  professedly 
neutral,  but  most  were  really  subservient 
to  pro-slavery  interests.  The  bulk  of  the 
matter  of  the  new  magazine  was  to  be  lit 
erary  and  not  controversial ;  but  it  was  in 
tended  there  should  be  frequent  political 
articles  to  indicate  its  purpose.  That  pur 
pose  was  to  be  the  point  of  the  arrow,  or 
rather  the  ram  of  the  ship;  and  all  the  tug 
of  the  sails,  and  all  the  power  of  the  screw, 
were  to  give  it  impetus. 

While  public  opinion  and  fashionable 
society  were  hostile,  Garrison  and  Phillips 
preached  in  vain;  the  new  project  was  to 
enlist  society  and  opinion  upon  the  right 
eous  side,  by  the  combination  of  all  the 
men  of  genius  whom  the  public  honored 
and  loved.  It  succeeded.  The  new  mag 
azine  made  an  impression  from  the  first, 
and  voices  that  had  once  hooted  at  the 
early  abolitionists  applauded  the  new  com 
bination  of  genius  with  moral  purpose. 
The  projector  had  come  to  Boston  with  that 
idea,  and  toiled  for  years  to  carry  it  out. 


50  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

The  leading  authors  invited  to  contribute, 
—  eleven  of  them,  —  with  two  members  of 
the  firm  of  publishers  (Mr.  Phillips  and  Mr. 
Wyman),  and  one  person  who  represented 
both  publishers  and  authors  (leading  an 
amphibious  existence  between  the  two), 
met  at  a  dinner  to  agree  upon  prelimina 
ries.  At  that  dinner  the  projector,  having 
previously  sounded  Lowell,  rose  without 
a  suggestion  from  any  person,  and  without 
the  knowledge  of  any  person,  —  author  or 
publisher,  —  and  nominated  Lowell  as  ed 
itor-in-chief.  He  himself  served  as  the 
assistant  editor,  received  and  answered 
the  letters,  and  gave  the  first  reading  to 
all  the  myriads  of  contributions. 

Lowell  was  not  methodical,  and  he  hated 
routine  work;  but  he  applied  himself  stren 
uously,  and  gave  a  high  tone  to  the  maga 
zine.  His  own  contributions  were  good, 
and  often  brilliant,  but  were  not  to  be 
compared  in  general  interest  with  the  for 
tunate  stroke  of  Holmes.  At  the  dinner 
just  mentioned  Lowell  said,  "I  will  take 
the  place,  as  you  all  seem  to  think  I  should ; 
but,  if  success  is  achieved,  we  shall  owe 
it  mainly  to  the  doctor."  He  continued 
(talking  to  the  present  writer)  his  observa 
tions  upon  Holmes,  in  which  he  showed 


"  ATLANTIC  "   DINNERS  51 

himself  a  psychological  observer,  and  some 
thing  of  a  prophet :  — 

"You  see,  the  doctor  is  like  a  bright 
mountain  stream  that  has  been  dammed 
up  among  the  hil-ls,  and  is  waiting  for  an 
outlet  into  the  Atlantic."  (The  name  of 
the  magazine  was  suggested  by  Holmes.) 
"You  will  find  he  has  a  wonderful  store  of 
thoughts,  —  serious,  comic,  pathetic,  and 
poetic, —  of  comparisons,  figures,  and  illus 
trations.  I  have  seen  nothing  of  his  prep 
aration,  but  I  imagine  he  is  ready.  It  will 
be  something  wholly  new,  and  his  reputa 
tion  as  a  prose-writer  will  date  from  this 
magazine." 

These  are  not  Lowell's  words,  but  they 
contain  the  substance  of  what  he  said. 

For  two  years  or  more  the  monthly  din 
ners  of  the  Atlantic  contributors  occurred  on 
the  day  of  publication.  They  were  gener 
ally  at  Parker's,  but  one  was  at  Fontarive's 
in  Winter  Place,  and  one  at  Porter's  in 
North  Cambridge.  It  is  a  misfortune  that 
no  notes  were  kept  of  the  table-talk.  The 
gatherings  were  memorable,  and  would 
have  been  memorable  in  any  city  of  the 
world. 

The  bright,  powerful,  and  inspired  faces 
that  surrounded  the  ellipse  come  to  mind 


5  2  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

almost   like    a   sight  of   yesterday.      Each 
guest   in  turn  seems   to  fix  his  eyes   upon 
the   on-looker   in  this  miraculous  camera. 
The  group  is  immortal ;  the  separate  faces 
so   many   varying   expressions   of   genius. 
Brilliant  lights  and  softly  luminous  shades 
seem  to   play  around   the    table,  until    the 
colors  and  forms  are   mingled  as   in   the 
heart  of  a  picture  by  Turner.     There  was 
Holmes   in  the  flush  of  his   new  fame    as 
the  Autocrat,— a  man  whose  genius  flamed 
out  in  his  speech  and  expression,  as  clearly 
as  in    his    original    and    sparkling  works. 
There  was  Lowell,  with  features  of  singu 
lar  power,   and    eyes    which    dazzled  and 
charmed.     In  merriment  he  was  irresisti 
ble  ;  in  higher  moods  his  face  shone  like 
a  soul  made  visible.     There  was  Emerson, 
thoughtful,  but   shrewdly   observant,     and 
with  the  placid  look  of  an  optimistic  phi 
losopher,  whose  smile  was  a  benediction; 
Longfellow,    with   a  head   which    Phidias 
might   have   modelled,  by   turns   calm    or 
radiant,  seldom  speaking,  but  always  using 
the  fit  word;  Agassiz,  glowing  with  good 
humor,  simple    in  phrase    and  massive   in 
intellect;  Whittier,  with  noble   head    and 
deep-set,  brilliant   eyes,  grown   spare  and 
taciturn  from  ill-health,  an  ascetic  at  table, 


REMEMBERED   FACES  53 

eager  only  for  intellectual  enjoyment  ; 
Quincy,  with  patrician  air,  curious  learn 
ing,  and  felicity  in  epigram;  Dwight,  with 
the  sky-reaching  architecture  of  Beetho 
ven's  symphonies  in  his  brain;  Felton, 
Greek  to  his  fingers'  ends,  happy  in  wise  dis 
course  and  in  Homeric  laughter;  Motley, 
stateliest  man  of  his  time,  just  about  to 
depart  for  Europe,  there  to  carry  on  his 
life-long  work;  Norton,  the  lecturer  upon 
art,  future  editor  of  Carlyle's  letters ;  Cabot, 
a  veteran  contributor  to  the  Dial;  Whipple, 
with  two-storied  head  and  bulbous  specta 
cles,  keen  critic  and  good  talker.  There 
were  frequently  other  writers  less  known 
to  fame.  Of  those  mentioned,  Holmes, 
Dwight,  Cabot,  and  Norton  alone  survive. 
But  one  constant  visitor  is  not  to  be 
overlooked.  This  was  — 

"The  Jedge  that  covers  with  his  hat 
More  wit  an'  gumption,  an'  shrewd  Yankee  sense 
Than  there  is  mosses  on  an  ol'  stone  fence." 

"The  Jedge '^was  not  a  contributor;  he 
called  himself  amicus  curia.  His  ready 
wit,  solid  ability,  and  social  graces  made 
him  one  of  the  delights  of  all  literary  gath 
erings.  He  was  leaving  the  table  quite 
early  one  day,  when  M.  Fontarive,  who  had 

1  Hon   E.  Rockwood  Hoar. 


54  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

served  a  fine  menu,  appeared  with  a  bowl 
of  flaming  punch  that  diffused  "  Sabaean 
odors."  Still  "The  Jedge"  edged  toward 
the  door,  excusing  himself  by  saying  that 
he  had  before  him  a  long  journey  in  the 
train.  "Stay,"  said  the  Autocrat,  "and 
take  some  punch;  'twill  shorten  the  dis 
tance."-- "Yes,"  replied  "The  Jedge," 
"and  double  the  prospect."  He  was  as 
full  of  stories  as  Lord  Cockburn,  and  rarely 
left  the  table  without  flinging  some  mot 
as  a  souvenir.  "The  Jedge"  survives: 
late  be  his  departure  for  the  last  train. 
George  T.  Davis,  a  wonderful  raconteur, 
sometimes  came,  and  the  guests  remained 
for  hours  to  hear  him.  It  is  said  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  once  sat  with  him  till 
morning,  and  declared  he  was  the  best 
story-teller  he  had  ever  met.  John  C.  Wy- 
man  (one  of  the  firm  of  publishers)  was 
also  a  wonderful  artist  in  touching  up  a 
story,  as  well  as  a  brilliant  talker.  His 
imitations,  as  of  Webster's  grand  manner, 
were  perfect,  and  often  astounding.  He  is 
still  fresh  and  vivacious,  while  Davis  has 
"gone  over  to  the  majority." 

There  was  no  lack  of  serious  and  even 
spiritual  conversation.  Holmes's  fire  often 
fused  reasoning  into  eloquence;  and  his 


EMERSON'S  ANALOGY  55 

sentences  had  such  force,  proportion,  and 
finish  that  they  would  not  have  needed  re 
vision  for  print.  Lowell  always  talked 
well,  and  often  brilliantly.  He  soared 
naturally,  as  if  the  high  regions  of  imagi 
nation  were  his  familiar  haunts.  And  the 
hearer  never  felt  that  Lowell  had  done 
his  best;  for  there  was  something  like  a 
restrained  intensity,  which  gave  the  im 
pression  that  he  was  always  greater  than 
anything  he  had  done.  Every  competent 
observer  felt  sure  that  his  career  would  be 
a  crescendo. 

Emerson  was  fond  of  listening,  but  after 
a  set-to  he  often  made  a  philosophic  sum 
mary  or  scholium  that  was  beautiful  and 
memorable.  One  day  Dr.  Holmes  was 
speaking  casually  of  architecture,  and  ob 
served  that  all  the  orders  might,  roughly 
speaking,  be  resolved  into  three, —  the  Egyp 
tian,  characterized  by  breadth  of  base ;  the 
Grecian,  in  which  there  was  an  agreeable 
proportion  between  base  and  height;  and 
the  Gothic,  in  which  the  height  was  ex 
treme.  Mr.  Emerson  sat  with  eyes  far 
away,  and  said  in  his  deep,  level  tone,  as 
if  merely  communing  with  himself,  "That 
furnishes  a  striking  analogy.  The  broad- 
based  Egyptian  was  for  the  repose  of  the 


56  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

dead;  the  harmonious  Grecian  was  for  the 
activities  and  pleasures  of  the  living,  and 
the  aspiring  lines  of  the  Gothic,  do  they 
not  lead  our  thoughts  toward  immortality?  " 

Volumes  could  have  been  made  of  the 
bright  discussions  which  were  lost  in  air. 
But  they  were  not  wholly  lost,  for  they  left 
their  impression  in  the  minds  of  survivors, 
and  so  have  been  disseminated. 

On  one  occasion  the  women  contribu 
tors  were  invited.  Several  were  expected, 
but  only  two  came,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe,  and  Mrs.  Harriet  Prescott  Spofford. 
Mrs.  Stowe  had  demurred  at  first,  and  only 
consented  upon  the  stipulation  that  there 
should  be  no  wine  on  the  table.  Cigars 
were,  of  course,  out  of  the  question.  The 
condition  was  agreed  to,  for  all  were  de 
sirous  of  doing  honor  to  the  woman  who 
had  taken  such  a  distinguished  part  in 
the  great  question  of  the  day.  The  dinner 
passed  agreeably,  though  the  ladies  did 
not  have  a  great  deal  to  say.  Crystal  jars 
and  pitchers  of  iced  water  were  plentiful 
along  the  table,  and  if  by  chance  a  few  of 
them  had  a  judicious  mingling  of  some 
other  pale  beverage,  the  pervading  scent 
of  flowers  that  filled  the  room  would  have 
smothered  the  guilty  secret.  The  sparkle 


PROVINCIAL   DINNERS   BEST  57 

of  surprise  in  some  faces  when  the  glasses 
were  raised  was  as  good  as  a  play. 

In  all  that  belonged  to  these  dinners 
there  was,  no  doubt,  a  certain  provincial 
note  which  was  a  great  part  of  the  charm. 
In  a  small  city,  such  as  Boston  then  was, 
there  was  leisure  and  chance  for  intimacy, 
and  the  relations  of  men,  and  especially 
of  authors,  were  on  an  easy  footing  rarely 
attainable  in  a  metropolis,  where  life  is  a 
struggle  and  the  literary  guild  is  rent  with 
factions  and  jealousies.  In  Scott's  Diary 
(March  7,  1827),  after  jotting  down  his  im 
pressions  of  a  gathering  in  Edinburgh,  he 
says,  "Can  London  give  such  a  dinner? 
It  may,  but  I  never  saw  one.  They  are  too 
cold  and  critical  to  be  so  easily  pleased." 
The  reader  who  is  acquainted  with  our  lit 
erature,  and  has  followed  the  course  of 
the  Atlantic,  knows  that  in  this  sketch 
there  is  only  the  design  to  show  some  of  the 
eminent  early  contributors.  An  account 
of  that  magazine  would  include  a  great 
many  brilliant  writers  whose  fame  at  the 
beginning  was  not  so  conspicuous.  Promi 
nent  among  these  are  Col.  T.W.  Higginson, 
John  T.  Trowbridge,  and  Rose  Terry  Cooke. 
Prescott  wrote, but  he  was  in  delicate  health, 
and  (in  his  mature  years  at  least)  was  not 
clubable. 


58  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

During  the  first  two  years  Lowell  wrote 
a  number  of  political  articles,  a  few  poems, 
and  a  great  many  book-notices.  His  con 
tributions  were  more  interesting  and  of 
greater  force  after  1862,  when  he  was  free 
from  the  duties  of  editor. 

At  the  beginning  the  editor's  salary  was 
three  thousand  dollars, — receiving  also 
pay  for  his  contributions  like  the  others. 
The  usual  rates  for  the  best  writers  were 
ten  dollars  a  page  for  prose,  and  an  average 
of  fifty  dollars  for  a  poem.  The  Atlantic 
was  not  able  to  pay  the  prices  given  to 
leading  authors  to-day.  But  Lowell  and 
the  fraternity  were  fully  satisfied. 


HIS   SECOND   MARRIAGE  59 


VI. 

IN    1857,   not  far  from   the    time   when 
the  Atlantic  was  started,  Lowell  was  mar 
ried  to  Miss  Frances  Dunlap  of  Portland, 
Me.     The  ceremony  was  performed  accord 
ing  to  the  rite   of   the   Episcopal  Church 
by  his  brother  Robert.      Miss  Dunlap  be 
longed  to  a  good  family,  and  was  possessed 
of  a  fine  mind  and  quiet  force  of  character. 
She  was  a  most  attractive  woman  without 
being  remarkably   beautiful.      Her  profile 
was    Greek,   her  hair    luxuriant,    and   her 
calm  eyes    sweetly  expressive.      She  had 
been  well  taught,  and,  for  some  time  pre 
vious  to  the  marriage,  had  had  charge  of 
the   education    of  Lowell's    daughter,   his 
only  living  child.     She  gained  the  respect 
and  affection  of  all  Lowell's  relatives  and 
friends.      Simplicity,    dignity,    and   grace 
were  charmingly  blended  in  her  manners. 

After  his  marriage  Lowell  went  to  live 
with  Dr.  Estes  Howe  in  a  house  near  the 
college  grounds.  Dr.  Howe's  wife  was  a 
sister  of  Maria  White  Lowell.  He  was 


60  THE  POET   AND   THE   MAN 

greatly  esteemed,  and  by  his  intimates 
heartily  loved.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
whist-club,  and  a  guest  at  all  the  literary 
dinners.  The  affection  between  him  and 
Lowell  was  tender  and  constant.  After  a 
time  Lowell  went  back  to  Elmwood  to  live. 
He  was  most  happy  in  his  marriage,  as 
his  wife  shared  his  tastes,  and  was  a  woman 
to  be  loved. 

He  had  never  been  a  steady  worker, 
which  is  not  remarkable  in  a  poet;  beyond 
that,  he  was  dilatory  and  procrastinating  to 
such  a  degree  that,  without  some  (carefully 
concealed)  encouragement,  he  might  have 
gone  on  indefinitely, — 

"  Involved  in  a  paulo-post-future  of  song." 

His  wife  was  surely  his  good  angel,  and 
the  results  of  his  labors  after  his  second 
marriage  show  that  he  had  been  animated 
by  now  resolution.  In  writing  a  poem  like 
"The  Cathedral,"  there  was  great  strain 
upon  his  vital  forces;  and  when  such  a 
work  was  in  progress  her  unobstrusive  min 
istrations  were  soothing  and  sustaining. 

She  died  in  London  while  her  husband 
was  minister.  No  children  were  born  of 
the  marriage. 


WHO   WERE   FREE-SOILERS  ?  6 1 

Before  commenting  upon  the  second  se 
ries  of  "  Biglow  Papers, "  it  may  be  of  service 
to  make  a  brief  statement  for  the  benefit  of 
younger  readers;  for  it  must  be  remem 
bered  that  a  generation  has  grown  up  since 
the  Civil  War.  There  were  two  distinct 
classes  of  anti-slavery  men.  Lowell  began 
with  one,  and  afterward  acted  with  the 
other.  One  was  the  party  of  Garrison  and 
Phillips,  known  as  abolitionists,  which  re 
lied  solely  upon  moral  influences.  The 
other  brought  the  question  into  politics,  en 
deavoring  to  restrain  slavery  by  law,  to  pre 
vent  its  spreading  into  free  territory,  and  to 
make  it  the  strictly  limited  exception,  in 
stead  of  the  masterful  and  aggressive  rule, 
in  the  republic.  This  was  called  at  first 
the  Liberty  Party,  then  the  Free-Soil  Party, 
and  was  always  a  minor  third  as  against 
the  Whigs  and  Democrats,  until,  in  the 
campaign  for  the  election  of  Lincoln  in 
1860,  it  was  consolidated  with  the  former 
under  the  name  of  Republican.  The 
Wilmot  Proviso  (proposed  by  David  Wil- 
mot,  M.C.,  of  Pennsylvania)  had  been  the 
prominent  issue  for  a  number  of  years.  It 
was  designed  to  exclude  slavery  from  the 
Territories,  which  previous  to  becoming 
States  are  under  the  control  of  Congress. 


62  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

The  cry  of  the  Free-Soilers,  was  "  Freedom 
national,  slavery  sectional."     The  Proviso 
was  staved  off,  could  not  be  made  law;  but 
what  was  done  proved  effectual  in  the  end,-— 
namely,  each  Territory  when  about  to  be 
come  a  State  was  allowed  to  choose  between 
freedom  and  slavery.     Then  ensued  a  race 
for  the  occupation  of  the  coming  new  States 
such  as  the  world  had  never  seen.     The 
party  of  freedom  won  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
by  superior  activity,  organization,  and  re 
sources,  but  not  without  long  and  violent 
contests  with  murderous  "border  ruffians, 
the  partisans  of  slavery  from  the  adjacent 
State  of    Missouri.      Some  of   the    most 
thrilling  incidents  in  American  history  are 
to  be  found  in  the  record  of  this  hfe-and- 
death  struggle,  in  which    John    Brown    of 
Ossawatomie  played  a  leading  part 

A  passage  in  the  second  series  (No. Two) 
refers  to  this  glorious  result:  - 

"0  strange  New  World,  that  yit  wast  never  young, 
Whose  youth  from  thee  by  gripin'  need  was  wrung, 

***** 
An'  wbo  grew'st  strong  thru  shifts  an'  wants  an' 

pains, 
Nussed  by  stern  men  with  empires  in  their  brains, 


"HOSEA"  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR  63 

Thou,  skilled  by  Freedom  an'  by  gret  events, 

To  pitch  new  states  ez  Old  World  men  pitch  tents, 

******** 
The  grave's  not  dug  where  traitor  hands  shall  lay 
In  fearful  haste  thy  murdered  corse  away." 

Some  of  these  lines  may  challenge  com 
parison  with  the  most  vigorous  in  the 
language. 

After  this  crushing  defeat  came  the  elec 
tion  of  Abraham  Lincoln;  and  then  the 
leaders  in  the  slave-holding  States,  seeing 
that  all  was  lost,  brought  about  secession 
from  the  Union,  and  took  up  arms  for  a 
Southern  Confederacy. 

Before  long  Lowell  bethought  him  of  the 
characters  and  stage  properties  of  his  old 
comedy,  and  brought  out  from  retirement 
Hosea  Bigloiv,  Parson  Wilbur,  and  Birdo- 
fredum  Saw  in  to  figure  in  a  new  drama; 
deepest  of  tragedies  it  proved  to  be  for 
him.  The  scampish  volunteer  of  the  Mex 
ican  War  had  become  a  slaveholder  and 
secessionist,  and  furnished  what  matter  for 
satire  he  might ;  while  Hosea  was  the  mouth 
piece  of  moral  convictions,  of  patriotic  fer 
vor,  and  of  faith  in  the  indestructible  unity 
of  a  free  nation, —  a  unity  not  too  dearly 
bought,  even  with  the  blood  of  the  best  and 
dearest.  The  Mexican  War,  though  dis- 


64  THE    POET  AND    THE    MAN 

graceful,  was  waged  on  foreign  soil,  and, 
in  modern  view,  a  small  affair.  The  War 
of  the  Rebellion  was  an  ever-present  and 
tremendous  fact,  and  while  it  lasted  there 
was  no  room,  within  or  without,  for  any 
thing  else.  The  new  series  is  wholly  oc 
cupied  with  matters  connected  with  the 
war,  and  naturally  wants  much  of  the  comic 
relief  of  its  predecessor;  but  it  is  an  error 
to  think  it  inferior  as  poetry.  Probably 
the  most  forcible  part  is  that  in  which  the 
poet  deals  with  the  course  of  Great  Britain 
in  favoring  the  Rebellion,  —  the  dialogue 
between  Concord  Bridge  and  Bunker's  Hill 
Monument, —followed  by  the  regretful, 
manly,  and  ringing  reproaches  in  "Jona 
than  to  John."  The  prefatory  letter  of 
Parson  Wilbur  is,  in  its  way,  a  more  effec 
tive  statement  of  the  case  of  the  seizure  of 
Mason  and  Slidell  than  any  made  by  Sec 
retary  Seward. 

Two  other  poems  of  the  series  (Nos.  six 
and  ten)  should  be  mentioned,  because  they 
are  at  Lowell's  high -water  mark,  and  cannot 
be  easily  paralleled  in  verse  of  our  time. 
"  Sunthin'  in  the  Pastoral  Line "  contains 
pictures  of  spring  in  the  country  which  in 
completeness,  felicity,  and  vividness  excel 
all  his  descriptions  in  serious  verse.  It  is 


"HOSEAV    MASTERPIECE  65 

an  almanac  of  blossoms  and  bird-notes, 
with  scarcely  a  blank  page  left  for  a  contin- 
uator.  Hosea's  interview  with  a  Puritan 
ancestor,  which  forms  the  sequel,  is  in  the 
poet's  most  vigorous  manner.  He  truly 
says  of  the  Yankee  dialect,  — 

"  For  puttin'  in  a  downright  lick 
'  Twixt  Humbug's  eyes  there's  few  can  metch  it, 
An'  then  it  helves  my  thought  ez  slick 
Ez  stret-grained  hickory  doos  a  hetchet." 

"A  Letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Atlantic 
Monthly"  (No.  ten)  is  a  poem  of  which  no 
description  can  give  an  adequate  notion. 
It  winds  its  way  with  an  apparent  artless- 
ness;  with  hints  of  tender  and  half-humor 
ous  thought;  with  glimpses  of  rural  scenes, 
and  of  "farm-smokes,  sweetest  sight  on 
airth;  "  and  with  a  melancholy  sense  of  the 
merciless  obsession  of  the  war.  Then  it 
breaks  into  an  agony  of  lament  for  the 
young  heroes  fallen  in  battle,  and  closes 
with  an  apostrophe  to  Peace  which  few  who 
are  old  enough  to  remember  those  terrible 
days  can  read,  even  for  the  twentieth  time, 
with  dry  eyes.  It  is  not  Peace  coming  "as 
a  mourner  bowed"  that  is  invoked,  but 
Peace  — 

"  with  hand  on  hilt, 

And  step  that  proves  her  Victory's  daughter." 


66  THE   POET   AND    THE   MAN 

The  reader  seems  to  have  slowly  as 
cended  a  hill  like  Pisgah,  and  is  facing  a 
prospect  that  awes  him  to  silence.  No 
description  can  convey  this  eloquence  of 
the  heart.  It  rouses  emotions,  at  least  in 
those  who  knew  the  awful  war,  which  we 
must  call  sublime. 

Mention  was  made  of  his  nephew  Put 
nam.  Another,  Lieutenant  James  Jackson 
Lowell,  was  killed  at  Seven  Pines;  the 
third,  General  Charles  Russell  Lowell,  at 
Winchester.  The  last-named  was  wounded 
while  leading  a  charge  of  cavalry;  and, 
though  he  knew  the  wound  was  mortal,  he 
was  helped  upon  his  horse,  and  headed 
another  brilliant  charge,  in  which  he  was 
again  hit,  and  died  the  next  day.  It  is 
this  heroic  act,  never  surpassed,  which  is 
referred  to  in  the  lines  following.  They 
are  often  repeated  at  the  reunions  of  the 
veterans  of  the  war. 


Rat-tat-tat-tattle  thru  the  street 

I  hear  the  drummers  makin'  riot, 
An'  I  set  thinkin'  o'  the  feet 

Thet  follered  once,  an'  now  are  quiet,  — 
White  feet,  ez  snowdrops  innercent, 

That  never  knowed  the  paths  o'  Sat'n, 
Whose  comin'  step  ther's  ears  thet  won't, 

No,  not  lifelong,  leave  off  awaitin'. 


THE  "  N.  A.  REVIEW"  67 

Why,  haint  I  held  'em  on  my  knee  ? 

Didn't  I  love  to  see  'em  growin', 
Three  likely  lads  ez  wal  could  be, 

Hahnsome  an'  brave,  an'  not  tu  knowin'  ? 
I  set  an'  look  into  the  blaze, 

Whose  natur',  jes  like  theirn,  keeps  climbin', 
Ez  long  'z  it  lives,  in  shinin'  ways, 

An'  half  despise  myself  for  rhymin'. 

Wut's  words  tu  them  whose  faith  an'  truth 

On  War's  red  techstone  rang  true  metal, 
Who  ventered  life  an'  love  an'  youth 

For  the  gret  prize  o'  death  in  battle?  — 
To  him  —  who,  deadly  hurt,  agen 

Flashed  on  afore  the  charge's  thunder, 
Tippin'  with  fire  the  bolt  of  men 

Thet  rived  the  Rebel  line  asunder?" 

For  nearly  ten  years  (1863-1872)  Low 
ell,  in  collaboration  with  Charles  Eliot 
Norton,  was  editor  of  the  North  American 
Review,  in  which  many  of  his  essays  ap 
peared.  This  was  a  scholarly  and  sedate 
periodical,  whose  history  began  with  the  be 
ginnings  of  our  literature.  It  was  read  and 
respected  by  cultivated  people,  but  made 
no  appeal  to  the  general  public  by  means 
of  sensational  articles  or  vaunted  names. 
Its  subscribers  and  friends  appreciated 
thorough  and  finished  essays,  such  as 
Lowell's  and  Norton's,  — essays  of  which  a 
larger  public,  a  public  of  a  hundred  thou 
sand,  would  be  easily  tired. 


68  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

The  "  Commemoration  Ode  "  (1865),  con 
sidered  by  many  as  the  best  of  the  poems 
called  out  by  the  war,  made  a  powerful 
impression.  Some  readers,  perhaps,  need 
to  be  informed  that  there  was  a  proposal 
to  erect  a  Memorial  Hall  in  honor  of  the 
sons  of  Harvard  who  fell  in  the  Civil  War, 
and  that  the  Ode  was  read  at  a  gathering 
of  the  friends  of  the  university.  The  noble 
hall,  with  Norman  tower,  which  has  since 
arisen,  and  which  forms  such  a  landmark, 
needs  only  the  mellowing  touch  of  age  to 
become  one  of  the  most  impressive  of  col 
legiate  buildings.  The  Ode  was  recited 
in  a  broad  tent  set  up  near  the  college 
grounds,  following  an  address  by  General 
Meade,  the  hero  of  Gettysburg.  Lowell 
usually  appeared  composed,  if  not  cold,  in 
public;  but  on  this  occasion  his  voice  and 
manner  showed  that  the  scene  and  the  sub 
ject  had  wholly  possessed  him.  The  white 
illumination  of  his  features,  as  he  warmed 
to  the  impassioned  close  of  the  poem,  was 
like  a  transfiguration.  The  effect  upon  the 
great  assembly  of  people,  who,  with  flushed, 
or  eager,  or  tearful  faces,  followed  every 
line  with  breathless  attention,  was  some 
thing  never  to  be  forgotten.  The  memories 
of  the  war  then  were  like  half-healed 
wounds. 


MR.  LOWKLI.  ix  LATKR  MIDDI.K  IJFK. 


UNDER   THE   WILLOWS  69 


VII. 

" UNDER  The  Willows,"  published  in 
1869,  and  dedicated  to  Norton,  contains 
the  best  work  of  the  poet's  maturer  years, 
together  with  some  lighter  pieces  of  an 
earlier  date.  The  title  comes  from  a  group 
of  large  spreading  trees  on  the  bank  of 
Charles  River,  a  favorite  resort  of  students. 
With  few  exceptions  these  poems  presup 
pose  too  much  in  ordinary  readers  to  be 
widely  popular.  This  is  not  the  case  with 
"The  First  Snow  Fall,"  which,  like  "The 
Changeling"  and  "She  Came  and  Went," 
in  a  former  volume,  is  as  simple  and  touch 
ing  as  a  white  stone  for  a  child's  grave. 
Equally  open  to  view  is  the  theme  of  "  The 
Dead  House."  But  in  many  of  the  pieces 
in  this  volume  the  thought  is  subtile  and 
remote;  and  ordinary  readers,  if  candid, 
would  confess  that  they  "did  not  know 
what  it  was  all  -about."  Lowell's  mind  was 
fertile  in  recondite  as  well  as  in  obvious 
allusion,  and  he  had  long  dealt  with  ab 
struse  ideas;  so  that  he  never  reflected  that 


70  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

even  fairly  well-read  people  might  need  a 
clew  to  his  meaning.  He  was  never  wil 
fully  obscure,  like  Browning,  but  his 
thought  is  often  to  be  sought  for. 

Like  every  collection  of  true  poetry,  this 
book  is  a  gathering  of  the  memories  and 
fancies  of  years ;  each  one  an  ideal  replica 
of  some  experience  or  mood.  Thus,  "  Gold 
Egg"  is  a  reminiscence  of  German  Univer 
sity  life,  a  misty  blending  of  metaphysics, 
mythology,  and  the  "  Arabian  Nights,"  - 
dissimilarities  conjured  into  a  strange  har 
mony  by  the  magic  of  genius.  "A  Winter 
Evening  Hymn  to  My  Fire,"  written  almost 
forty  years  ago,  is  a  fantasy  in  verse  of  free 
movement,  and  is  itself  as  airy  as  flame. 
The  devotee  of  tobacco  will  smile  at  the 
classic  pedigree  of  the  goddess  Nicotia,  and 
will  regale  himself  with  the  picture  of 

smoke  that  — 

"  floats  and  curls 

In  airy  spires  and  wayward  whirls, 
Or  poises  on  its  tremulous  stalk 
A  flower  of  frailest  revery." 

The  poem,  "To  John  Bartlett,  On  His 
Sending  Me  a  Seven-Pound  Trout,"  is  an 
example  of  Lowell's  playful  and  delicate 
art.  The  first  eager  joy  over  the  size  and 
beauty  of  the  fish  is  Rabelaisian.  Then  we 


V^^ARF 
err 

i  RSITY 


Cr 

Cr, 


WHERE   THE   FOOT   PATH   LEADS  71 

see  the  fisherman  threading  his  way  through 
the  woodland  mysteries ;  then  the  rise,  the 
struggle,  and  the  capture,  —  all  as  vivid  as 
if  the  scenes  were  before  our  eyes.  The 
grotesque  rhymes  are  among  the  most  curi 
ous  in  Lowell's  vocabulary. 

In  other  poems  are  sketches  of  sea-beaten 
Appledore,  of  the  marshy  banks  of  Charles 
River,  or  of  lusty  boyhood  in  the  Cam 
bridge  of  the  old  time.  Perhaps  the  sub- 
tilest  power  of  expression  is  seen  in  "  The 
Foot  Path,"  a  purely  ideal  or  transcen 
dental  poem,  which  leads  from  solid  earth, 
the  reader  scarcely  perceives  how  or  when, 
into  the  realm  of  the  infinite. 

THE   FOOT   PATH. 

IT  mounts  athwart  the  windy  hill 

Through  sallow  slopes  of  upland  bare, 

And  Fancy  climbs  with  foot-fall  still 
Its  narrowing  curves  that  end  in  air. 

By  day  a  warmer-hearted  blue 

Stoops  softly  to  that  topmost  swell; 

Its  thread-like  windings  seem  a  clew 
To  gracious  climes  where  all  is  well. 

By  night,  far  yonder,  I  surmise 

An  ampler  world  than  clips  my  ken, 

Where  the  great  stars  of  happier  skies 
Commingle  nobler  fates  of  men. 


72  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

I  look  and  long,  then  haste  me  home, 
Still  master  of  my  secret  rare; 

Once  tried,  the  path  would  end  in  Rome, 
But  now  it  leads  me  everywhere, 

Forever  to  the  new  it  guides 

From  former  good,  old  overmuch; 

What  Nature  for  her  poets  hides 
'Tis  wiser  to  divine  than  clutch. 

The  bird  I  list  hath  never  come 
Within  the  scope  of  mortal  ear; 

My  prying  step  would  make  him  dumb, 
And  the  fair  tree,  his  shelter,  sear. 

Behind  the  hill,  behind  the  sky, 

Behind  my  inmost  thought,  he  sings; 

No  feet  avail;   to  hear  it  nigh 

The  song  itself  must  lend  the  wings. 

Sing  on,  sweet  bird,  close  hid,  and  raise 
Those  angel  stairways  in  my  brain, 

That  climb  from  these  low-vaulted  days 
To  spacious  sunshines  far  from  pain. 

Sing  when  thou  wilt,  enchantment  fleet, 
I  leave  thy  covert  haunt  untrod, 

And  envy  Science  not  her  feat 

To  make  a  twice-told  tale  of  God. 

They  said  the  fairies  tript  no  more, 
And  long  ago  that  Pan  was  dead; 

;Twas  but  that  fools  preferred  to  bore 
Earth's  rind  inch-deep  for  truth  instead. 


WHAT   IS   SEEN  73 

Pan  leaps  and  pipes  all  summer  long, 
The  fairies  dance  each  full-mooned  night, 

Would  we  but  doff  our  lenses  strong, 
And  trust  our  wiser  eyes'  delight. 

City  of  Elf-land,  just  without 

Our  seeing,  marvel  ever  new, 
Glimpsed  in  fair  weather,  a  sweet  doubt 

Sketched-in,  mirage-like  on  the  blue. 

I  build  thee  in  yon  sunset  cloud, 

Whose  edge  allures  to  climb  the  height, 

I  hear  thy  drowned  bells  inly-loud, 
From  still  pools  dusk  with  dreams  of  night. 

Thy  gates  are  shut  to  hardiest  will, 

Thy  countersign  of  long-lost  speech,  — 

Those  fountained  courts,  those  chambers  still 
Fronting  Time's  far  East,  who  shall  reach? 

I  know  not  and  will  never  pry, 
But  trust  our  human  heart  for  all; 

Wonders  that  from  the  seeker  fly 
Into  an  open  sense  may  fall. 

Hide  in  thine  own  soul,  and  surprise 
The  password  of  the  unwary  elves; 

Seek  it,  thou  canst  not  bribe  their  spies; 
Unsought,  they  whisper  it  themselves. 

"The  Washers  of  the  Shroud,"  written 
in  a  high  prophetic  strain,  recalls  the  aw 
ful  suspense  in  an  early  crisis  in  the  Civil 
War.  "Villa  Franca"  shows  the  Fates 


74  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

dooming  for  his  crimes  Napoleon  III. ;  and 
it  was  written  years  before  the  fall  of  Se 
dan.  Powerful  poems  these  last ;  and  some 
years  later  they  were  referred  to  by  Lowell, 
in  conversation  with  the  writer,  with  just 
pride  in  the  intuitive  foresight  shown.  But 
it  should  be  said  that  he  seldom  spoke  of 
his  own  works,  even  to  friends,  and  almost 
never  read  to  them  a  poem. 

While  Lowell  and  a  few  other  American 
poets  have  inclined  to  choose  spiritual 
themes,  the  British  poets  have  generally 
looked  for  subjects  in  common  life,  and 
dealt  with  the  strong  and  enduring  feel- 
jngS>  —  with  what  is  most  vital  in  the  nature 
of  man.  For  this  reason  they  have  taken 
the  stronger  hold  upon  mankind.  Landor 
says,  "The  human  heart  is  the  world  of 
poetry;  the  imagination  is  only  its  atmos 
phere."  This  is  one  reason  why,  since 
the  prevalence  of  the  transcendental  mood 
here,  poems  like  "Enoch  Arden"  and 
"Dora"  have  seldom  been  conceived.  On 
the  other  hand,  those  who  shun  idealism 
will  be  in  danger  of  falling  into  a  real 
ism  which  paralyzes  and  blights  the  finer 
sensibilities.  The  sturdy  realist,  without 
spiritual  intuitions,  will  read  with  unblest 


LANDSCAPE   POETRY  75 

eyes  not  only  the  most  exalted  of  Lowell's 
poems,  but  the  essays  and  poems  of  Em 
erson,  and  many  of  the  most  beautiful  of 
the  tales  of  Hawthorne. 

Tennyson  was  both  realist  and  idealist; 
and  with  his  death  most  of  the  poetry  of 
the  Victorian  era  came  to  an  end.      Mere 
dith  and  Swinburne  sustain  the  traditions. 
It  may  be  well  to  mention  here  that  in 
our  poetry  descriptions  of  landscape  have 
occupied    relatively    a  large     space.     In 
stances    are    everywhere    visible.     T.  Bu 
chanan  Read  put  all  his  power  into  "The 
Closing    Scene,"    a    magnificent    autumn 
picture  which  is  likely  to  endure.      Bryant 
was  almost  exclusively  a  landscape  artist. 
Whittier   was    profuse    with    the    pictures 
which  serve  -as  introductions    to  many  of 
his  poems.      He  and  Lowell  were  the  two 
conspicuously  faithful  of  our  scenery  paint 
ers, —  giving  not    merely  picturesque  out 
looks,  but   exact    details,  as    in    a    Dutch 
masterpiece.     This   is    not    to  decry  their 
art,  but  to  indicate  their  method  by  point 
ing  to  the  delicacy  of  the  strokes.      Long 
fellow  loved  landscapes,  and  painted  them 
well;  but  in  his  treatment  there  was  only 
general  truth,  without  pretence  of  nicety  of 
detail. 


76  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

Leaving  one  side  purely  scenic  poems, 
which  have  a  recognized  but  minor  place, 
the  truth  appears  to  be  that  natural  objects 
are  important  only  as  accessories :  they  are 
to  support  and  set  off  the  great  picture; 
air  and  clouds  are  to  give  softness,  depth 
and  distance;  while  imagination  casts  its 
spell  in  high  lights  and  glooms;  but  the 
centre  and  soul  is  in  the  human  interest, 
—  in  the  visible  play  of  contending  emo 
tions,  in  the  spectacle  of  heroic  patience, 
of  noble  ambition,  or  of  fortitude  superior 
to  fate. 

This  is  not  wandering  from  Lowell's  po 
etry.  It  has,  as  we  have  seen,  many  phases, 
and  its  place  in  the  future  appears  assured. 
But  a  subtile  idealism,  and  a  passion  for 
elaborate  landscape  painting,  though  both 
qualities  imply  a  high  order  of  genius,  do 
not  take  a  firm  hold  upon  the  great  world  of 
readers.  The  exquisite  ideal  conceptions, 
and  the  marvellous  execution  of  poems  "  in 
the  pastoral  line,"  are  for  the  few;  while 
poems  in  which  the  thought  is  less  fine 
spun,  and  which  glow  with  emotion,  or 
show  the  workings  of  the  human  heart, 
impress  all  who  have  any  love  for  poetry. 

"The  Cathedral,"  which  was  published 
a  year  later,  is  equally  beyond  the  compre- 


"THE  CATHEDRAL"  77 

hension  of  ordinary  readers.  In  fact,  there 
is  no  way  to  communicate  the  central  ideas 
of  the  poem  to  any  but  trained  minds.  The 
story,  which  is  of  a  visit  to  Chartres,  is 
slight;  the  burden  of  the  poem  appears  to 
be  a  meditation  upon  the  Divine  govern 
ment,  and  its  relations  with  man,  —  leading 
to  an  idealist's  indignant  protest  against 
the  drift  of  a  materialistic  age.  Or  it  may 
be  looked  upon  as  the  philosophy  of  reli 
gion  in  its  relation5_withj.rt  and  science  in  I 
human  life;  and  this  is  presented  from 
what  may  be  called  the  mediaeval  view.  Yet 
it  is  far  enough  from  discussion,  which  de- 
poetizes  ;  and  from  dogmatism,  which  pet 
rifies.  There  are  many  gleaming  points  in 
the  descriptions,  but  the  strongest  impres 
sion  is  made  by  the  suggestions  of  faith  and 
repose,  which,  like  the  glimpses  of  beauty 
in  the  gray  stones  of  the  building,  touch 
the  heart  through  the  imagination. 

The  vocabulary  for  such  a  poem  must  be 
ample;  no  sweet  simplicity  is  possible  for 
him  who  would  frame  metaphysical  con 
ceptions  in  verse,  or  reproduce  the  glan 
cing  lights  which  an  aging  poet  sees  playing 
over  old  shrines  and  old  beliefs.  The  tone 
is  indicative  of  a  reaction,  as  in  the  case 
of  Tennyson ;  painful  at  first  to  those  who 


78  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

once  felt  their  pulses  thrilled  in  reading 
"The  Present  Crisis"  of  the  one,  and  the 
"  Locksley  Hall  "  of  the  other. 

"The  Cathedral"  is  a  poem  to  be  medi 
tated  upon,  or,  if  the  vulgarism  may  be  par- 
doned,  chewed  over.  It  gives  an  earnest 
reader  strange  sensations.  Like  the  edifice 
it  treats  of,  it  is  incrusted  with  precious 
imagery,  and  it  towers  with  sky-reaching 
thought. 

In  1870  were  published  two  volumes  of 
collected  essays:  "My  Study  Windows" 
and  "Among  My  Books."  A  second  vol 
ume  with  the  latter  title  came  out  in  1876. 

In  1872  he  went  to  Europe,  and  did  not 
return  until  1874.  He  received  honors 
from  the  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam 
bridge,  and  was  welcomed  everywhere  by 
men  of  letters.  Just  before  he  went  abroad 
there  appeared  a  series"  of  labored  articles 
upon  his  prose  works,  arguing  that  they 
could  not  become  classic  on  account  of 
their  vicious  style.  The  ground  had  been 
laid  out  like  a  siege  by  Turenne,  and  it 
was  intended,  evidently,  that  the  offending 
essayist  should  have  what  is  called  "a 
good  setting  down."'  To  a  friend  who  vol 
unteered  to  write  a  reply  Lowell  sent  a 
note,  a  part  of  which  is  here  given,  mainly 


NOT   DISTURBED   BY   CRITICS  79 

for  the  sake  of  the  six  lines  of  verse   not 
elsewhere  printed. 

ELMWOOD,  i2th  May,  1871. 

..."  Don't  bother  yourself  with  any  sympathy 
for  me  under  my  supposed  sufferings  from  critics.  I 
don't  need  it  in  the  least.  If  a  man  does  anything 
good,  the  world  always  finds  it  out  sooner  or  later; 
and,  if  he  doesn't,  the  world  finds  that  out  too  —  and 
ought. 

"  '  Gainst  monkey's  claw  and  ass's  hoof 
My  studies  forge  me  mail  of  proof : 
I  climb  through  paths  forever  new 
To  purer  air  and  broader  view. 
What  matter  though  they  should  efface, 
So  far  below,  my  footstep's  trace  !  " 

He  was  resolute  all  his  life  to  make  no 
reply  to  criticism  of  his  works  or  of  his 
politics. 

The  death  of  Agassiz,  which  occurred  in 
1874,  was  the  subject  of  a  poem  which  is 
much  more  than  a  personal  tribute.  It  is 
of  considerable  length,  varied  in  its  themes, 
dignified  in  movement,  and  forms  a  monu 
ment  which  will  outlast  brass  and  marble. 
Besides  the  reminiscences  of  loving  inti 
macy,  the  work  shows  a  poet's  power  in 
lines  of  description  which  burn  into  the 
memory,  and  a  poet's  mastery  of  sustained 
philosophic  thought.  The  great  Helvetian 


80  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

stands  before  us  as  in  life.  No  one  ever 
saw  him  but  had  a  vivid  impression  of  virile 
and  engaging  personality.  The  noble  head, 
well  placed  on  expansive  shoulders,  and 
the  look  of  mingled  sagacity,  energy,  and 
good-humor  were  never  forgotten.  Who 
ever  remembers  him  thinks  first  of  his 
smile. 

In  one  place  Lowell  shows  him  at  a  lit 
erary  dinner : — 

"The  mass  Teutonic  toned  to  Gallic  grace, 
The  eyes  where  sunshine  runs  before  the  lips, 
While  Holmes's  rockets  curve  their  long  ellipse, 
And  burst  in  seeds  of  fire  that  burst  again, 
To  drop  in  scintillating  rain." 

He  shows  us  Emerson,— 

"the  face  half  rustic,  half  divine, 
Self -poised,  sagacious,  streaked  with  humor  fine," 

and  he  curiously  notes  — 

«< — the  wise  nose's  firm-built  aquiline." 

The  study  of  Hawthorne's  rather  melan 
choly  face  is  extremely  subtle :  - 

"November  nature  with  a  name  of  May." 

There   is  a  brief  sketch  of  Longfellow, 
one    of    Felton,   and  one  of  Arthur  Hugh 


TRIBUTE   TO   AGASSIZ  8 1 

Clough,  the  English  poet  who  lived  for  a 
year  near  Elmwood,  and  afterwards  died  at 
Florence. 

Some  of  the  brooding  thoughts  touch  the 
heart  as  the  eyes  follow  the  lines :  — 

"  '  Tis  lips  long  cold  that  give  the  warmest  kiss, 
'  Tis  the  lost  voice  comes  oftenest  to  our  ears, 
We  count  our  rosary  by  the  beads  we  miss." 

Only  a  great  mind  could  have  conceived 
this  many-branched  poem;  only  a  gener 
ous  heart  could  have  so  permeated  it  with 
love  and  sorrow;  only  a  poet  could  have 
sustained  its  thought  and  feeling  in  such 
stately  and  impressive  lines.  Few  of  Low 
ell's  poems  better  show  his  native  qualities, 
and  the  art  of  which  he  was  master. 

The  tribute  is  to  be  found  in  "  Hearts 
ease  and  Rue,"  the  volume  which  was 
published  while  he  was  minister  to  Great 
Britain. 

Three  noble  odes  were  written  at  the 
time  of  the  United  States  Centennial  Cel 
ebrations:  one  read  at  Concord,  April  19, 
1875  ;  one  read  at  Cambridge,  July  3,  1876, 
being  mainly  a  tribute  to  Washington  and 
the  State  of  Virginia;  the  third  for  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1876.  They  have  great  lifts 


82  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

of  imagination  and  billows  of  passion,  and, 
with  "The  Commemoration  Ode,"  rank 
among  the  poet's  best  works.  The  Three 
Odes  are  dedicated  to  E.  L.  Godkin,  editor 
of  the  Nation. 


AN   UPWARD   CAREER  83 


VIII. 

WE  saw  Lowell  as  a  youth,  a  writer  of 
rather  frivolous  verse;  then  a  lover  indit 
ing  sonnets ;  then  a  reformer  with  the  ear 
nestness  and  high  purpose  of  a  primitive 
Christian;  then  a  satirist  and  a  delineator 
of  Yankee  character,  to  serve  a  great  cause ; 
then  a  patriot,  devoted  to  the  unity  and 
glory  of  country;  and  then  a  philosophic 
poet  reasoning  upon  the  dealings  of  the 
Almighty  with  men,  and  meditating  upon 
duty  and  destiny,  —  faith  and  the  immor 
tal  life.  His  literary  career  was  a  steady 
upward  movement. 

He  had  never  held  office,1  not  even  that 
of  justice  of  the  peace,  a  very  common  and 
common-place  honor  in  Massachusetts.  At 
the  age  of  fifty-eight  he  began  public  life  at 
the  top.  The  traditions  of  the  government 
had  favored  the  appointment  of  literary 
men  to  diplomatic  and  consular  posts.  The 

1  He  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  Convention  which 
nominated  Hayes  for  President,  and  was  also  chosen  presiden 
tial  elector, —  an  office  which,  by  force  of  circumstances,  has 
become  purely  honorary  and  without  any  serious  duty.  * 


84  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

names  of  Irving,  Bancroft,  Marsh,  Haw 
thorne,  Motley,  Bayard  Taylor,  and  Bret 
Harte  readily  come  to  mind.  President 
Hayes,  at  the  suggestion,  it  is  said,  of 
Howells,  the  novelist,  offered  to  Lowell 
the  Austrian  mission,  which  he  declined. 
Motley  had  found  life  in  Vienna  uninter 
esting.  Whatever  Lowell's  reason  for  de 
clining  may  have  been,  he  subsequently 
accepted  the  appointment  to  Spain,  pos 
sibly  because  he  was  then  engaged  in  the 
study  of  Cervantes  and  the  Spanish  drama. 
In  due  time,  upon  the  retirement  of  Min 
ister  Welch,  he  was  transferred  from  Madrid 
to  London.  He  was  then  sixty  years  old. 
His  youth,  with  its  enthusiasm,  its  hopes 
and  deceptions,  was  far  behind.  His  fame 
rose  full-orbed  upon  Great  Britain,  and 
he  had  a  reception  seldom  given  to  a 
stranger.  He  was  again  made  welcome 
by  men  eminent  in  letters  and  in  social 
rank,  and  was  especially  honored  by  the 
Queen.  The  islands  seemed  brighter  for 
his  coming,  and  fresh  ties  of  sympathy  and 
respect  seemed  to  unite  the  elder  and  the 
younger  peoples.  How  he  bore  himself  in 
this  place,  the  place  of  the  highest  dignity 
in  the  gift  of  the  President,  is  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  all.  He  was  a  lover  of  his  country, 


LIFE   IN   ENGLAND  85 

jealous  of  its  honor,  a  patriot  in  every  fibre ; 
while  at  the  same  time  he  was  a  citizen  of 
the  world  of  letters,  and  loved  history  in 
minsters  and  castles,  and  was  conservative 
of  the  poetry  of  tradition.  No  one  was 
more  firmly  based  in  the  common  language, 
or  better  read  in  the  common  literature,  of 
our  race.  Englishmen  knew  he  was  the 
unchanged  author  of  "  Jonathan  to  John ;  " 
and  if  he  retained  his  popularity,  as  he  un 
doubtedly  did,  it  was  not  by  cringing,  or 
surrender  of  democratic  ideas,  or  suppres 
sion  of  unpalatable  truth.  It  is  in  the 
blood  of  our  race  to  admire  a  manly  man. 

His  numerous  addresses  throughout  the 
kingdom  gave  evidence  of  his  mature 
thought,  scholarship,  and  grand  style :  they 
testify  to  the  honor  and  respect  in  which  he 
was  held.  A  selection  from  these  was 
published,  entitled,  "  Democracy  and  Other 
Addresses." 

With  the  coming  in  of  President  Cleve 
land  in  1885,  Lowell  knew  that  by  a  rule 
in  the  Department  of  State  he  would  be 
superseded.  He  had  had  enough  of  public 
life,  and  did  not  desire  to  remain  in  office ; 
and  he  welcomed  his  successor  Mr.  Phelps 
with  cordiality.  He  told  the  writer  that  he 
recognized  the  ability  and  training  of  that 


86  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

gentleman  as  quite  superior  to  his  own; 
that  his  (Lowell's)  legal  acquirements  were 
slight  and  becoming  obsolete,  and,  more 
over,  had  never  included  constitutional  or 
international  law;  while  Mr.  Phelps  was  an 
eminent  jurist,  versed  in  history  and  able  to 
take  up  any  question  in  diplomacy  with 
mastery.  Upon  this  topic  he  spoke  with 
earnestness  and  at  some  length.  He  said 
he  had  been  treated  with  proper  considera 
tion,  and  had  nothing  but  good-will  and 
high  regard  for  President  Cleveland.  At 
a  dinner  in  Boston  after  his  return  he  spoke 
in  a  similar  strain  of  the  President,  to  the 
disgust  of  those  who  think  it  treason  to 
party  to  admit  any  excellence  in  an  oppo 
nent.  But  Lowell  was  never  a  thick-and- 
thin  politician,  and  still  less  a  political 
trimmer.  He  had  independent  views  on 
national  questions,  and,  in  regard  to  men, 
his  just  and  unprejudiced  mind  recognized 
good  qualities  by  whomsoever  manifested. 
In  1888  was  published  a  collection  of 
poems  entitled  "Heartsease  and  Rue." 
They  were  mostly  productions  of  later 
years,  but  one  of  them  was  "Fitz  Adam's 
Story,"  written  long  before  as  the  first  of  a 
series  of  Chaucerian  tales,  never  to  be  com 
pleted. 


RETURN   TO    ELMWOOD  87 

For  some  years  he  spent  his  summers 
in  London  and  his  winters  in  Boston,  or 
with  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Edward  Burnett,  in 
Southboro,  Mass.  When  her  two  sons  were 
about  to  enter  Harvard  College  the  family 
removed  to  Elmwood,  and  the  poet  went 
to  live  with  them.  He  had  long  shrunk 
from  returning  there,  as  the  house  was  "full 
of  ghosts,"  he  said.  There  had  died  his 
mother  and  father,  his  sister  Rebecca,  his 
first  wife,  and  three  or  four  infants.  From 
the  upper  windows  westward  there  is  a 
lookout  over  the  cemetery  of  Mount  Auburn, 
where  these  loved  ones  rest.  There  at 
length  he  was  settled,  planning  another 
visit  to  London  for  the  following  summer, 
— •  a  visit  never  to  be  made. 

He  had  an  inherited  tendency  to  gout, 
and  suffered  at  times  severely.  Even  as 
far  back  as  1857  there  were  times  when  the 
pain  seized  the  soles  of  his  feet  so  sharply 
that  he  would  lift  them  spasmodically  high 
in  air,  with  half-suppressed  groans  that 
were  heartaching  to  hear.  Still,  his  health 
was  ordinarily  good,  and  his  body,  though 
never  robust,  seemed  equal  to  the  demands 
of  a  life  that  was  generally  kept  within 
simple  limits.  It  was  seldom  that  any  ill 
ness  sent  him  to  his  bed.  In  1885,  when 


88  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

he  was  leaving  office  in  London,  he  seemed 
to  have  visibly  aged;  his  shoulders  were 
getting  bowed,  his  face  was  thinner,  his  fore 
head  more  deeply  lined  and  corrugated,  and 
his  hair  and  beard  growing  gray.  Still, 
as  he  had  always  been  active,  temperate, 
and  extremely  careful  of  his  health,  his 
friends  looked  forward  to  see  him  reach 
fourscore.  It  was  impossible  to  think  of 
the  creator  of  Hosea  Biglow  as  growing 
old.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  1890  dis 
quieting  reports  came  from  Elmwood: 
disease  had  attacked  a  vital  organ,  and  the 
worst  was  feared.  Time  passed  without 
real  amendment,  and  in  August,  1891,  after 
long  and  terrible  suffering,  he  found  relief 
in  death. 

By  his  desire  the  funeral  services  were 
performed  at  the  College  Chapel  by  clergy 
men  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  The  two 
surviving  members  of  the  whist-club  then 
living  in  Cambridge  were  among  the  pall 
bearers.  His  death  produced  a  deep  im 
pression,  and  the  newspapers  were  full  of 
tributes  from  writers  of  every  class.  Those 
who  best  knew  him  mourned  his  loss  with 
a  sorrow  that  was  to  end  only  with  life. 


PATRIOTIC   POETRY  89 


IX. 


THE  time  has  not  come  for  an  impartial 
estimate  of  Lowell's  works ;  —  not  for  those 
who  lived  within  the  sphere  of  his  influence ; 
still  less  for  those  who  felt  the  undying 
affection  which  his  manly  and  generous 
qualities  inspired.  In  some  respects  his 
works  appeal  more  strongly  to  his  country 
men  than  to  sympathetic  readers  in  Great 
Britain.  For  a  Briton  cannot  enter  into 
his  passionate  devotion  to  the  American 
Union,  nor  become  enraptured  over  his 
prophecies  of  this  country's  future  glory. 
Patriotic  poems  are  for  home-consumption, 
as  are  the  brutally  frank  petitions  to  God 
in  national  hymns,  such  as :  — 

"  Confound  their  politics, 
Frustrate  their  knavish  tricks, 
On  us  Thy  blessing  fix,"  etc. 

But  there  were  other  patriotic  features  in 
Lowell's  poetry.  Setting  aside  foreign 
"larks  and  daisies,"  and  all  conventional 
ity,  he  set  himself  to  sing  of  the  birds  and 


90  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

flowers  he  knew,  the  landscapes  and  the 
men  he  had  seen,  the  speech  he  had  heard, 
and  the  unborrowed  feelings  of  his  own 
soul.  His  verse,  therefore,  excepting  that 
\of  his  earliest  years,  is  no  echo  of  English 
Vpoetry,  although  he  was  master  of  its  man 
ifold  vocabulary.  In  respect  to  his  truth  to 
nature,  he  is  the  most  American  of  poets, 
unless  it  may  be  Whittier  ;  and  his  faith 
fulness  is  a  stumbling-block  to  English 
readers.  How  is  a  Briton  to  conceive  of 
the  multitude  of  bright  objects  peculiar 
to  the  New  World  which  are  sketched  in 
Lowell's  verse?  The  difficulties  in  rustic 
speech  and  manners  are  well  nigh  insur 
mountable  :  however  popular  the  "  Biglow 
Papers"  may  be  in  Great  Britain,  not 
one  reader  there  in  a  thousand  really  com 
prehends  the  talk  of  Hosea,  or  the  rustic 
charm  of  "The  Courtin',"  any  more  than 
he  comprehends  the  poems  of  Burns. 

In  the  United  States,  though  the  comedy 
and  satire  of  Lowell  were  immediately 
recognized,  his  serious  poems  were  appre 
ciated  by  few  until  long  after  they  were 
published.  Setting  aside  the  inveterate 
party  prejudice  which  cast  a  cloud  over  all 
he  wrote,  there  was  something  in  his  verse 
which  left  common  readers  in  bewilderment 


QUALITIES    IN   HIS   POETRY  9 1 

or  indifference.  It  was  a  new  combination 
of  elements,  and  it  was  distasteful  to  all 
whose  souls  had  not  been  "  touched  to  finer 
issues."  No  complete  analysis  can  be 
given,  but  we  may  observe  these :  — 

First,   Truth    towards    God,    his  fellow-* 
men,   the    world    of    nature,    and  himself. 
Second,  Idealism,  including  eternity  of  be 
ing,  the  immanence  of    God  in  the  soul, 
the  supremacy  of  right,  and  the  aspiration 
to  a  spiritual  existence,  including  a  spirit 
ual  conception  of  this  present  life.      Third,^ 
Brotherhood,  in  the  sense  taught  by  Christ, 
and    ignored    in    most    Christian    pulpits. 
Fourth,    Beauty,    for    its    own     sake,    but 
always    arm    in    arm    with  Strength,   both 
ministering  to  mortal  and  immortal  needs. 
Fifth,  Melody,  when  compatible  with  other «• 
indispensable  qualities. 

It  was  an  unattractive  combination  to  the 
American  readers  of  poetry  forty  years  ago. 

Men  professedly  seek  for  originality, 
and  at  the  same  time  demand  finish  and 
grace;  not  perceiving  that  grace  and  origi 
nality  are  almost  always  at  variance,  and 
tend  to  exclude  each  other.  Grace  is 
the  thing  accepted,  accustomed,  expected; 
originality  is  startling,  reactionary,  and 
gives  us  pause. 


92  THE   POET   AND   THE    MAN 

A  poet  with  such  a  genius  for  vera 
city  could  never  be  conventional :  he  must 
write  from  fresh  feelings  and  impressions. 
He  could  not  be  led  by  fashions  in  art, 
or  philosophy,  or  politics.  He  could  not 
pass  by  the  poor  and  the  outcast  at  his  own 
door, —  it  was  easy  to  pass  by  the  leprous 
beggar  of  eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  He 
cared  little  for  poetry  which  was  not  up 
lifting  to  the  soul,  or  useful  to  humanity. 

So  we  see  that  his  ideal  notions  of  right, 
truth,  brotherhood,  and  spiritual  life  are 
the  animating  soul  of  the  greater  number 
of  his  serious  poems.  Reference  has  been 
made  to  the  splendor  and  power  of  "The 
Present  Crisis,"  and  others  of  that  early 
period.  It  is  interesting,  also,  to  notice  how 
he  has  employedjjhe  old  Jege.nHs  to  incul 
cate  charity,  tolerance,  and  Christian  love. 
Listen  to  the  blessed  resolution  of  the 
discord  in  the  final  harmony  of  Godmin- 
ster  chimes !  Look  at  the  beautiful  para 
ble  of  the  cups  of  differing  size  in  the 
'  symbolic  dream  of  Ambrose!  Admire  the 
secret  of  integrity  and  fortitude  carried  in 
Dara's  great  soul,  and  in  his  empty  camp- 
chest  !  Think  of  the  persistence  of  con 
science  in  the  pathetic  story  of  Rhctcus! 
As  for  Sir  Launfal,  it  is  picture,  legend, 


HIS    MASTERS 


93 


and  Christian  parable  in  one.  Such  poems 
need  no  added  "application;"  they  are 
themselves  their  own  moral.  Even  in  a 
personal  poem,  like  "The  Dandelion," 
there  is  something  in  the  boyish  memories 
to  remind  us  that  — 

"  Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy." 

It  is  interesting  to  look  at  resemblances, 
so  as  to  speculate  upon  the  influences  that 
may  have  affected  a  poet's  style.  Every 
artist  begins  by  imitation,  and  happy  is  he 
\vho  emerges  betimes  from  control,  and 
establishes  his  own  individuality.  At  the 
beginning  there  were  some  suggestions  of 
Tennyson's  early  manner, —  a  certain  dain 
tiness,  and  the  use  of  obsolescent  words. 
This  did  not  remain,  for  the  nature  of 
Lowell  was  virile  and  robust.  We  can  see 
that  he  was  one  with  Chaucer  in  his  joy  in) 
nature,  and  in  the  intuitive  perception  of 
character.  He  is  moved  by  the  frank  flow 
of  Dryden's  lusty  song;  by  the  quaintness 
of  Donne,  and  the  directness  and  energy  of 
Marvell,  in  the  green  shade  of  whose  mysti 
cal  Garden  both  Emerson  and  Lowell  might 
have  lingered. 

"Beaver  Brook"  may  perhaps  furnish  an 
illustration  of  Lowell's  poetical  method,  - 


94  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

if  a  sure  instinct  ever  makes  use  of  a  method, 
—  and  show  the  shining  qualities  and  the 
infelicities  of  his  verse.  Let  us  suppose 
that  an  ordinary  man,  a  Philistine,  —  if 
readers  prefer  that  name,  —  had  walked  by 
that  little  brook  on  a  summer  afternoon, 
at  a  time  before  the  mill  had  become  a 
ruin.  He  saw,  as  he  passed,  a  sunlit  valley 
lying  below  a  hill  on  whose  slope  fell  the 
shadow  of  a  cedar.  In  the  open  door  of 
the  mill  stood  a  whitened  miller;  but,  as  all 
millers  are  floury,  this  one  called  for  no 
special  remark.  The  great  wheel  was 
turning  under  a  slender  stream  of  water 
coming  from  a  reservoir  formed  by  dam 
ming  the  brook.  He  did  not  see  Undine, 
or  Kiihleborn,  or  any  of  their  tribe,  tripping 
over  the  wheel :  he  saw  only  the  splashing 
water,  and  heard  only  the  din  of  the  whirl 
ing  mill-stones;  and  with  a  listless  glance 
he  passed  on.  Now,  keeping  in  mind  the 
literal  description  that  would  be  given  by 
the  man  without  a  poet's  vision,  let  us  see 
what  the  poem  shows  us :  — 

BEAVER   BROOK. 

Hushed  with  broad  sunlight  lies  the  hill, 
And,  minuting  the  long  day's  loss, 

The  cedar's  shadow,  slow  and  still, 
Creeps  o'er  its  dial  of  gray  moss. 


BEAVER   BROOK  95 

Warm  noon  brims  full  the  valley's  cup, 

The  aspen's  leaves  are  scarce  astir; 
Only  the  little  mill  sends  up 

Its  busy,  never-ceasing  burr. 

Climbing  the  loose-piled  wall  that  hems 
The  road  along  the  mill-pond's  brink, 

From  'neath  the  arching  barberry  stems 
My  footstep  scares  the  shy  chewink. 

Beneath  a  bony  buttonwood 

The  mill's  red  door  lets  forth  the  din; 

The  whitened  miller,  dust-imbued, 
Flits  past  the  square  of  dark  within. 

No  mountain  torrent's  strength  is  here; 

Sweet  Beaver,  child  of  forest  still, 
Heaps  its  small  pitcher  to  the  ear, 

And  gently  waits  the  miller's  will. 

Swift  slips  Undine  along  the  race    ' 
Unheard,  and  then  with  flashing  bound 

Floods  the  dull  wheel  with  light  and  grace, 
And,  laughing,  hunts  the  loath  drudge  round. 

The  miller  dreams  not  at  what  cost 

The  quivering  mill-stones  hum  and  whirl, 

Nor  how  for  every  turn  are  tost 
Armfuls  of  diamond  and  of  pearl. 

But  summer  cleared  my  happier  eyes 
With  drops  of  some  celestial  juice, 

To  see  how  Beauty  underlies 
Forevermore  each  form  of  use. 


96  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

And  more;   methought  I  saw  that  flood, 
Which  now  so  dull  and  darkling  steals, 

Thick,  here  and  there,  with  human  blood, 
To  turn  the  world's  laborious  wheels. 

No  more  than  doth  the  miller  there, 

Shut  in  our  several  cells,  do  we 
Know  with  what  waste  of  beauty  rare 

Moves  every  day's  machinery. 

Surely  the  wiser  time  shall  come, 

When  this  fine  overplus  of  might, 
No  longer  sullen,  slow,  and  dumb, 

Shall  leap  to  music  and  to  light. 

In  that  new  childhood  of  the  Earth 
Life  of  itself  shall  dance  and  play, 

Fresh  blood  in  Time's  shrunk  veins  make  mirth, 
And  labor  meet  delight  half-way. 

The  landscape  is  a  picture  of  harmonious 
details.  The  brook  is  spiritualized,  and 
sets  machinery  going  in  the  brain  as  well 
as  in  the  mill.  While  we  are  thinking  of 
the  crystal  gleam  of  the  falling  water,  we 
are  suddenly  appalled  at  the  blood  which 
"  turns  the  world's  laborious  wheels. "  And, 
as  we  come  to  the  inspiring  hope  of  the 
"wiser  time,"  we  are  about  to  say  that  that 
poem  fulfils  all  high  conditions,  when  sud 
denly  we  are  forced  to  stop.  We  stop,  be 
cause  we  remember  the  melodists.  What 


DISSONANT   CONSONANTS  97 

will  they  say  of  "  Swift  slips  Undine  "  —  or 
of  "child  of  forest  still"  ?  What  will  they 
say  of  this  line,  - 

"  And,  laughing,  hunts  the  loath  drudge  round  "  ? 

See  how  the  consonants  stand  out  like 
tense  muscles  on  a  gymnast's  arm!  Or, 
look  at  this  row  of  jolting  monosyllables :  - 

"  Fresh  blood  in  Time's  shrunk  veins  make  mirth." 

Harsh  words  they  are,  with  gutturals  and 
sibilants  crowding  each  other,  and  not  to 
be  levelled  and  glossed  into  a  satin  surface. 

Versifiers  who  make  faultless  lines  to  be 
crooned  in  mystical  tones  will  be  disgusted. 
And  they  have  a  right  to  a  little  sympathy, 
—  a    very    little.       It    is    to    be    admitted 
that  the  poems  we  have  considered,  "The 
Cathedral,"  "The  Footpath,"  and  "Beaver 
Brook,"  are  not  as    easy  reading  as   "We 
are   Seven;"    furthermore,  ^that  if    Lowell, 
had  a  nice  sense  of  melody,  it  was  subor.-\ 
dinated  to  thought  and  energy^     Not  only 
his  genius  wasjiot  lyrical, —  in  the  sense  of 
excelling    in  sing-able   verse,  — but  among 
shorter  poems  there  are  few  gems  of   pre 
destined  crystallization,  and  never  any  of 
the  verses  written  for  sonorous  effect,  like 


98  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

Coleridge's  "In  Xanada  did  Kubla  Khan," 
etc.  However,  the  poet  in  whose  verse 
there  is  never  anything  to  forgive  seldom 
shows  us  anything  to  admire.  If  the  soul 
of  poetry  is  energy,  its  garment  beauty, 
its  effect  emotion;  if,  according  to  Lan- 
dor,  "philosophy  should  run  through  poetry 
as  veins  do  through  the  body;"  if  that  is 
a  poem  which  is  inspired  with  original 
thought,  graced  by  unborrowed  pictures 
and  figures,  and  which  suggests  continually 
more  than  meets  the  eye,  then  it  will  be 
impossible  to  *  deny  Lowell  a  high  rank 
among  poets. 

He  is,  indisputably,  a  poet,  but,  as  al 
ready  stated,  more  of  a  philosopher  than  a 
singer.1  And  he  is  a  poet  of  nature,  with 
this  addition,  that  when  he  sees  a  land 
scape  he  paints  it,  and,  at  the  same  time, 

1  As  a  notable  example  of  the  thought  behind  the  thing,— 
just  as  the  Egyptian  priests,  thousands  of  years  ago,  adored  the 
Sun-God  that  was  behind  the  sun,—  the  reader  can  look  at  Em 
erson's  "  Musketaquit."  We  have  space  only  for  a  stanza  :  — 

"Thy  summer  voice,  Musketaquit, 
Repeats  the  music  of  the  rain  : 
But  sweeter  rivers,  pulsing,  flit 
Through  thee,  than  thou  through  Concord  plain." 
And  the  transcendental  poet,  B.  W.  Ball,  in  his  poem  to  the 
Merrimack  River,  says,  — 

"  Thy  sunny  ripples,  what  are  they 
If  not  reflections  bright  in  me?" 


THE  NEXT  GENERATION  DECIDES     99 

looks  through  it,  and  perceives  its  true  sig 
nificance  and  its  ideal  relations.  In  this 
way  the  mind  is  led  from  the  visible  image 
to  the  thought  behind  it. 

Poems  with  such  a  range,  such  vivid 
conceptions,  such  high  purpose,  such  keen 
insight,  such  tender  sympathy,  and  such 
flashing  lights  of  imagery,  have  never  been 
very  common ;  and  are  not  numerous  enough 
now,  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic,  to  en 
danger  Lowell's  reputation.  After  more 
than  forty  years  of  beneficent  influence, 
attended  by  a  constantly  deepening  inter 
est,  his  poems  may  be  left  to  take  their 
chnace  with  posterity. 


100        THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 


X. 


A  DISCIPLE  of  Lavater  once  said  to  the 
writer,  f*  There  was  never  a  great  poet  who 
had  not  a  long  and  generally  a  shapely 
nose.  Think  of  Wordsworth's  profile, — 
Tennyson's,  Dante's.  I  know  the  nose  on 
Shakespeare's  bust  appears  short,  but  I 
distrust  it;  the  pictures  are  better."  The 
writer  thought  to  pose  the  physiognomist 
by  naming  Keats ;  but  he  demurred,  saying 
that  the  position  of  the  head  in  the  common 
engraving  of  Keats  foreshortened  the  nose. 

The,  writer  then  suggested  that  the  rule 
scarcely  held  in  the  case  of  Lowell.  "  That 
is  true,"  said  he,  "and  it  confirms  my 
theory.  Lowell  is  a  poet,  but  is  not  all 
poet.  If  in  one  way  he  has  great  ideality, 
comparison,  and  whatever  other  qualities 
belong  to  a  poet,  he  has  also  a  marvellous 
common-sense,  like  Ben  Franklin,  or  Soc 
rates.  His  face  shows  this  as  clearly  as 
his  writing  and  conversation.  Never  was 
a  man  more  solidly  planted  on  the  basis  of 
the  understanding.  When  it  comes  to 
reasoning  he  is  acute,  vigorous,  aggressive: 


CHARACTER   IN   PHYSIOGNOMY  IOI 

no  man  has  a  surer  or  swifter  parry  or 
thrust;  only  he  tires  of  it  at  times,  and, 
giving  way  to  his  love  of  frolic,  puts  a  twist 
into  a  syllogism,  which  leaves  his  adversary 
little  to  do  but  laugh." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  accept  this  reading 
of  Lowell's  physiognomy;  for,  though  many 
men  and  all  children  are  instinctive  readers 
of  facial  expression,  it  is  probable  there  are 
no  exact  and  invariable  correspondences  be 
tween  the  forms  of  features  and  the  quali 
ties  of  mind.  But  in  respect  to  Lowell's 
twofold  mental  character  there  is  some 
truth  in  the  prognostication.  Even  those 
who  knew  him  best  were  sometimes  amazed 
at  the  invincible  logic  in  which  his  thought 
took  instant  form ;  and  there  was  never  a 
man  quicker  to  hit  the  joint  in  the  armor 
of  an  adversary.  The  solidity  of  his  un 
derstanding,  joined  to  his  inborn  skill  in 
statement  and  argument,  was  the  foundation 
of  his  power  as  a  writer  of  prose.  In  aid 
of  this  native  ability  came  the  resources  of 
learning,  and  of  wisdom,  which  is  learn 
ing's  mellow  fruit;  and  his  wide  and  varied 
reading  supplied  him  with  illustrations 
from  every  age  and  country.  His  ideality 
and  plastic  faculty  gave  to  the  train  of 
weighty  thought  the  graces  of  image  and 


102        THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 

simile;  and  at  length  the  sonorous  sen 
tences  seemed  moving  to  the  sound  of 
music,  like  a  well-ordered  army,  glittering 
in  sunlight. 

Or,  in  another  mood,  the  sentences  be 
came  playful  or  ironic,  and  the  listener  or 
reader  followed  their  course  as  one  follows 
an  electric  car  by  its  fitful  sparkles. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the 
"  Conversations  on  the  Old  Poets "  (pub 
lished  in  1845),  as  he  suffered  that  book  to 
lapse.  It  contains  many  forcible  and  pun 
gent  passages,  and  shows  originality  and 
courage,  but  it  lacks  the  mature  richness, 
variety,  and  completeness  of  later  works. 

("Fireside  Travels"  is  one  of  the  most 
characteristic  and  charming  of  his  vol 
umes.  Its  leading  Essay,  "Cambridge 
Thirty  Years  Ago,"  contains  reminiscences 
of  the  old  town,  the  old  times,  and  the  old\ 
people,  and  especially  of  certain  rare  old 
college  professors.  No  paper  of  Lowell's 
surpasses  it  in  its  youthful  freshness,  its 
quaint  humor  and  picturesque  memories. 
Other  essays  —  "A  Moosehead  Journal," 
"In  the  Mediterranean,"  "Italy,"  etc.— 
are  full  of  delightful  touches,  neither  to  be 
imitated  nor  described. 


BRILLIANT  PROSE   ESSAYS  103 

"In  My  Study  Windows"  there  are 
glances  without  and  within  —  studies  of 
nature  and  of  books.  "My  Garden  Ac 
quaintance  "  is  a  study  of  the  birds, 
whose  coverts  were  in  the  thick  under 
growth  that  surrounded  the  grounds  of 
Elmwood.  "  A  Good  Word  for  Winter  " 
tells  its  own  story.  The  paper  on  Lin 
coln  was  written  before  his  tragic  end,  and 
before  the  united  voices  of  our  people  had 
given  him  the  place  where  he  stands,  among 
the  greatest,  if  not  the  greatest,  of  Ameri 
can  presidents.  To  read  that  article  now 
is  like  reading  prophecy,  and  its  moral 
courage  is  refreshing  and  uplifting. 

Probably  the  most  brilliant  of  his  lighter 
essays  is  that  "  On  a  Certain  Condescen-  \ 
sion  in  Foreigners. "  The  sentences  gleam 
with  wit,  as  from  the  play  of  polished 
swords.  All  forms  of  satire,  irony,  raillery, 
and  sarcasm,  are  seen  in  it,  but  always  in 
a  quiet,  bantering  strain,  and  never  with 
angry  purpose.  The  delicate  ridicule  of 
the  patronizing  critics  of  our  literature,  in 
stitutions,  and  manners,  is  delicious.  The 
airy  grace  of  this  sustained  pleasantry  is 
without  parallel.  Almost  any  other  man 
capable  of  such  a  satire  would  have  been 
sure  to  write  it  in  a  way  to  provoke  a  not 


104       THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 

unreasonable  indignation  on  the  part  of 
those  who  were  hit. 

Another  remarkable  essay  is  "Democ 
racy,"  in  which  epigrams  seem  to  be  the 
staple  of  the  composition.  With  an  easy 
flow  like  Montaigne's,  there  are  occasional 
deep  thoughts  like  Bacon's,  and  multitudes 
of  felicitous  turns  that  remind  us  of  Swift 
and  Sydney  Smith.  This  is  not  to  com 
pare  him  to  any  of  those  great  men ;  only 
to  indicate  certain  obvious  resemblances. 
But  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  another  es 
say  combining  such  mature  wisdom  with 
such  pungent  and  unexpected  phrases,  and 
animated  with  such  inexhaustible  spirit. 

Among  historical  compositions,  that  en 
titled  "New  England  Two  Centuries  Ago," 
and  the  address  upon  the  Two  Hundred 
and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Founding 
.of  Harvard  College,  are  conspicuous.  Un 
der  the  poet's  hand  the  life  of  the  dead 
past  is  restored  in  its  sombre  beauty,  its 
heroic  devotion.  The  literary  essays  nat 
urally  are  more  numerous,  and  from  them 
we  gain  a  notion  of  the  variety  and  extent 
of  the  reading  on  which  they  are  founded. 

The  choice  of  subjects,  if  adequately 
treated,  is  often  an  indication  of  the  power 
of  an  author.  If  Lowell  had  chosen  to 


WEIGHTY   SUBJECTS   CHOSEN  105 

compete  with  the  light  and  graceful  writers, 
he  might  have  given  us  specimens  of  ad 
mirable  trifling;  such  as  "Life  at  the 
Court  of  King  Rene,"  "The  Mystery 
of  the  Pentameron,"  "The  Academia  della 
Crusca,"  "Legends  of  the  Rhine,"  and 
what  not.  But  his  innate  good  sense  and 
the  consciousness  of  power  led  him  to 
choose  the  weightiest  subjects,  near  to  the 
hearts  of  mankind, —  nothing  less  than  a 
new  survey  of  the  chief  landmarks  of  our 
literature.  The  list  of  authors  treated 
includes  Chaucer,  Spenser,  Shakespeare, 
Milton,  Dryden,  Fielding,  Gray,  Words 
worth,  Coleridge,  and  Keats ;  and  incident 
ally  many  others  are  referred  to.  He 
wrote  also  upon  Dante,  Lessing,  and  Rous 
seau;  and  if  he  had  lived  longer  he  would 
doubtless  have  given  to  the  world  his 
studies  of  Lope  de  Vega,  Cervantes,  and 
Goethe.  So  many  critical  estimates  of  the 
great  English  poets  had  been  printed,  one 
would  think  he  would  have  found  only  dry 
straw  to  thresh;  but  in  every  instance  he  ^ 
not  only  found  something  interesting  to 
say,  but  either  added  to  our  knowledge  or 
gave  new  points  of  view  in  regard  to  char 
acter  and  poetic  art.1 

1  His  essays  upon  the  old  English  dramatists  are  appearing 
as  this  volume  goes  to  press. 


106        THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 

In  estimating  a  character  or  a  poem 
Lowell  seldom  used  the  destructive  ana 
lytic  method.  He  did  not  seek  to  affili 
ate  a  poet's  philosophy, —  as  to  Hegel  or 
Spinoza,  —  nor  to  discover  what  propor 
tion  of  this  or  that  quality  is  found  in  his 
verse :  metaphysical  abstractions  were  not 
in  his  method.  When  one  of  the  new  critics 
has  done  with  his  "subject,"  it  is  not  a 
man  that  the  reader  sees,  but  ticketed  par 
cels  and  stoppered  jars  of  primal  elements, 
like  the  results  of  a  chemical  analysis.  This 
method  is  often  ingenious,  and  calls  for 
admiration  from  those  who  do  not  know 
how  a  constructive  critic  works. 

In  reading  LowrelPs_essay__on  Chaucer, 
that  poeX^isre^created  for  us,  touch  by 
touch.  We  see  him  visibly  rising  in  his 
proper  person,  with  his  native  expression, 
and  amid  the  surroundings  of  his  time  and 
place.  It  is  like  a  sculptor's  masterpiece, 
but  in  a  finer  element  than  clay;  and  as  we 
look  we  may  see  the  miracle  of  Pygmalion 
wrought  anew.  Even  the  creative  soul  is 
revealed  to  us  in  its  own  atmosphere. 

Lowell  had  an  intense  sympathy  with 
Chaucer.  Both  felt  an  abounding  joy  in 
nature ;  and  Lowell  could  at  least  admire 
the  master's  genius  in  creating  types  of  hu- 


CHAUCER,    SHAKESPEARE,    MILTON          1 07 

man  character.  For  this  and  other  valid 
reasons  his  essay  is  the  most  satisfactory, 
as  it  is  the  most  brilliant,  of  any  ever 
written  upon  that  great  poet.  With  great 
propriety  it  is  dedicated  to  Professor  Child, 
the  poet's  near  friend,  and  one  of  the  most 
eminent  scholars  in  English. 

In  the  article  upon  Shakespeare  there  is 
less_absolute  ^nasterv,  but  it  must  be  con 
sidered  among  the  few  memorable  attempts 
to  illustrate  the  poet's  art,  and  to  give  him 
a  solid  footing  among  men.  A  complete 
view  of  the  world  of  Shakespeare's  crea 
tions  would  require  a  score  of  essays,  but 
whoever  knows  this  one  well  will  have  an 
impression  as  lasting  as  life. 

In  regard  to  the  essay  on  Milton,  friends 
of  Professor  Masson,  his  biographer  and 
editor,  thought  some  of  Lowell's  strictures 
rude  and  his  phrases  brutal.  Lowell  was 
combative,  and  in  this  instance  perhaps 
discourteous.  He  was  exasperated  with 
the  inordinate  length  and  discursiveness  of 
Masson's  Life,  and  had  no  patience  with 
his  treatment  of  the  subject;  and  the  en 
ergy  of  Lowell's  temperament  got  the  bet 
ter  of  his  usually  calm  judgment.  Some 
of  the  harsh  phrases  must  be  regretted; 
although  those  who  remember  the  ameni- 


108  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

ties  that  used  to  prevail  among  British 
reviewers  will  find  that  there  have  been 
plenty  of  precedents.  At  the  same  time, 
this  essay  will  be  long  remembered  for  its 
general  breadth  of  view,  and  for  certain 
groups  of  majestic  and  sonorous  sentences, 
—  among  the  stateliest  in  modern  English. 

The  article  on  Lessing  is  a  model  for 
a  biographical  sketch.  It  is  full  enough, 
but  not  burdened  with  dates  or  platitudes, 
and  it  contains  an  admirable  view  of  Ger 
man  literature,  and  of  Lessing's  place  in 
it.  In  the  introduction  there  is  some  de 
lightful  banter  upon  the  structure  and  crab- 
like  movement  of  German  sentences,  and 
upon  the  mole-like  predilections  of  certain 
German  critics.  There  is  nothing  finer  in 
the  repertory  of  an  "American  humorist." 
On  the  whole,  the  essay  is  (to  borrow  a 
favorite  collocation  from  our  friends  the 
booksellers)  both  "entertaining  and  in 
structive,"  and  is  the  best  account  of  a 
German  litterateur  obtainable  in  English. 

The  essay  on  Wordsworth  was  variously 
estimated  in  Great  Britain.  The  special 
disciples  of  the  poet,  who,  like  their  mas 
ter,  thought  every  line  of  his  inspired,  were 
shocked  at  the  proposal  to  throw  over 
about  two-fifths  as  dull  rubbish.  But 


ELEMENTS   OF   THE   BEST   PROSE  1 09 

Lowell  celebrated  the  master's  best  verse 
in  elaborate  and  picturesque  sentences 
which  are  prose  only  in  form ;  and  whether 
readers  agree  or  not  to  the  "weeding  out," 
all  will  admit  that  the  praise  of  the  re 
mainder  is  worthy  and  noble.  In  the  vol 
ume  of  Wordsworth's  poems  "chosen  and 
edited  by  Matthew  Arnold,"  it  appears  that 
Lowell's  views  are  practically  confirmed. 

There  is  not  space,  even  if  it  were  de 
sirable,  to  refer  to  all  the  essays;  nor  yet 
to  the  literary  addresses  which  Lowell 
delivered  on  special  occasions  in  Great 
Britain.  In  regard  to  the  latter,  every 
man  who  wields  a  pen,  and  who  knows 
how  much  thought,  judgment,  scholarship, 
taste,  and  art  go  to  the  formation  of  clear,  < 
well-reasoned,  allusive,' and  musical  prose, 
recognizes  the  supremacy  shown  in  them 
all.  Exceptions  maybe  taken  to  his  judg 
ments,  but  not  to  the  literary  art.  Each 
specimen  is  like  a  piece  of  work  from  Ben- 
venuto  Cellini,  perfect  in  design,  perfect 
in  the  last  detail. 

It  may  be  difficult  to  satisfy  all  minds  in 
expressing  an  opinion  upon  Lowell's  rank  I 
as  a  writer  of  prose.      But  there  are  minds 
so  constituted  as  to  become  easily  annoyed 
with  sallies,  however  brilliant,  when  pur- 


HO  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

suing   a    serious    subject     And  there    are 
those  who  object  to  allusions,  mythologic, 
historic,  or  romantic,  when  they  appear  to 
be  used,  as  some  women  use  jewellery,  to 
set  off  something  that  was  well  enough  be 
fore.     And  they  will  say  that  if  a  writer  is 
to  make  a  display  of  his  powers,  there  can 
hardly  be    too    much    sparkle,   within    the 
limits  of  good   taste,   nor  too    many  allu 
sions,    if  apposite;  but    that  if  he  feels  a 
sense  of  duty  in  regard  to  his  subject  and 
his  readers,  he  may  hesitate  about  running 
down  every  metaphor  which  occurs  to  him, 
and  bringing  in  recondite  allusions  which 
all  but  the  very  learned  will  have  to  leave 
unguessed.      But  there   is  no  difficulty  in 
recognizing  Lowell's  keen  perception,  the 
grasp  of  principles,  the  array  of  facts,  pre 
cedents,     and    analogies,    and    the    almost 
unparalleled    power   of   witty   and  poetic 
illustration.      Surely    only  a  very  unusual 
gravity  would  object  to  this. 

We  have  before  referred  to  the  peculiar 
dualism   of   Lowell's  mind:  a  strong  cur- 
I  rent  of  reason  running  parallel  with  a  crea 
tive    imagination;    and  a  serious  purpose 
harmoniously  co-existent  with  frolic,    hu 
mor,  and  comic  suggestion.   We  might  think 
one  of  his  inkstands  filled  by  the  spirit  of 


IDEAL   ENGLISH  III 

Fun,   while  the  other  was  under  the  care 
of  the  sedatest  of  the  Muses. 

If  we  look  at  certain  grave,  sweet  pages 
of  Thackeray,  Newman,  Martineau,  Mat 
thew  Arnold,  and  the  Ruskin  of  thirty 
years  ago,  we  feel  that  we  have  in  them 
specimens  of  ideal  English.  Something 
of  the  calm  dignity,  the  seemingly  artless 
perfection,  and  the  limpid  movement,  char 
acteristic  of  those  writers,  may  sometimes 
be  seen  in  passages  of  Lowell;  but  his  fe 
licity  in  figures,  and  the  irrepressible  rush 
of  his  double  stream  of  tho.ught,  often  lead 
him  into  a  style  of  writing  that  is  both 
poetry  and  prose,  and  is  not  purely  either. 
Hence  his  readers  will  be  divided?  With 
the  reflective  and  philosophic  an  undue 
exuberance  either  of  ornament  or  mirth  is 
out  of  place.  But  there  are  others  who 
read  for  the  brilliancy  of  poetic  illustra-' 
tion,  and  who  believe  that  wisdom  itself 
may  be  sportive  without  being  taxed  with 
folly;  and  to  such  the  beauty  and  airy 
spirit  of  his  sentences  give  an  inexpressible 
delight. 

As  for  the  allusions,  it  may  be  said  that 
all  famous  essays  contain  minexaiogie^f^^f, 
—  from  cairngorms  to  diamonds, — many 
of  which  will  be  beyond  the  appreciation 


112        THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 

of  the  unlearned.  It  is  only  a  question  of 
more  or  less.  However  this  may  be  de- 
•  cided,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  com 
bination  of  qualities  in  the  essays  makes 
them  a  storehouse  of  knowledge  and  a 
quarry  for  quotation ;  and  endears  them  to 
men  of  ardent  feeling  and  poetic  insight, 
especially  if  they  Iiave  had  the  advantages 
of  general  reading.  Such  men  read  with 
pure  delight  every  sentence  of  Lowell,  no 
matter  upon  what  subject, — as  they  read 
every  sentence  of  Thackeray. 

In  his  own  way  Lowell  is  a  master,  and 
he  will  have  the  suffrages  of  admirers  until 
some  change  comes  to  overturn  the  meth 
ods  of  our  century;  at  the  same  time,  with 
more  simplicity  and  sobriety,  or  self-re 
straint,  his  circle  of  readers  would  have 
been  limitless.  In  that  case  he  would  not 
have  been  Lowell. 


A   MODERN   CATO  113 


XI. 


IN  considering  Lowell's  character  we  are 
struck  by  a  bluff  and  determined  honesty 
which  does  not  mince  phrases  for  evil 
doers,  nor  make  compromises  with  injus 
tice.  His  epigram  upon  the  copyright 
question,  "  The  Ten  Commandments  Will 
Not  Budge,"  was  everywhere  quoted.  But 
certain  poems  upon  plunderers  and  pecula 
tors  in  New  York  and  elsewhere  were  con 
ceived  in  such  a  spirit  of  wrath,  and  were 
pervaded  by  such  vitriolic  phrases,  that 
they  scorched  whomsoever  they  touched. 
The  error  was  to  take  those  special  in 
stances  of  official  crime  as  characteristic  of 
a  state  or  a  period.  Obviously  it  would 
be  unjust  to  stigmatize  a  whole  people  on 
account  of  the  robberies  of  a  gang  of  poli 
ticians.  The  first  rush  of  anger  was  nat 
ural,  but  when,  years  afterward,  Lowell 
was  making  a  collection  which  should  stand 
with  posterity  as  part  of  his  mature  con 
victions,  he  struck  out ' '  The  World's  Fair, ' ' 
and  probably  other  poems  which  were  the 


114  THE   POET  AND   THE   MAN 

expressions  of  a  temporary  mood.  Though 
the  spirit  which  prompted  them  was  noble 
and  courageous,  it  would  seem  that  he  was 
right  in  cancelling  them ;  they  had  served 
a  temporary  purpose,  but  they  did  not  be 
long  with  his  well-reasoned  and  maturely 
considered  poems. 

Although  these  poems  are  omitted  from 
Lowell's  "complete  works,"  and  in  defer 
ence  to  his  wishes  are  not  reproduced  in 
this  volume,  it  may  be  that  when  a  genera 
tion  has  passed,  and  the  history  of  this  cen 
tury  is  written,  they  may  need  less  apology, 
and  may  even  constitute  a  claim  to  the  ad 
miration  of  posterity.  For  it  is  evident 
that  we  are  groping  now  in  an  eclipse  of  jus 
tice.  There  is  no  check  upon  great  crim 
inals,  no  punishment  for  colossal  crime. 
For  theft  to  be  honorable  it  needs  only  to 
be  done  on  a  grand  scale ;  the  larceny  of  a 
jackknife  leads  to  the  house  of  correction, 
but  stealing  a  railroad  and  ruining  thou 
sands  of  bond-and-stockholders  is  good 
financiering.  Millionnaires,  gorged  with 
plunder,  attend  church.  One  might  rea 
sonably  ask  if,  with  pliant  clergymen,  the 
Ten  Commandments  do  not  budge  ?  Have 
the  wreckers  of  railroad  companies  in  New 
York,  or  of  insurance  companies  in  Hart- 


RELIGIOUS   OPINIONS  115 

ford,  ever  been  hit  from  the  pulpits  of  the 
churches  where  they  "worship"? 

We  may  ask  in  simple  phrase  what  has 
become  of  the  Ten  Commandments  and  the 
Golden  Rule,  in  business,  politics,  or  in 
society  at  large  ?  What  is  the  religion  or 
morality  of  the  numberless  combinations 
to  put  up  prices  ?  What  law  or  what  sen 
timent  of  justice  restrains  the  capitalists 
who  are  turning  this  country  into  an  en 
closed  hunting-field  wherein  their  fellow- 
men  are  the  game? 

It  was  the  growing  pressure  of  this  evil 
spirit  which  moved  the  soul  of  Lowell, 
and  which  will  stir  the  souls  of  others 
in  larger  and  larger  circles,  until  there  is 
a  return  to  old-fashioned  honesty,  or  a 
plunge  into  chaos. 

The  subject  of  Lowell's  religious  opin 
ions  is  not  likely  to  be  definitely  settled. 
In  his  young  manhood  he  used  to  mention 
with  evident  satisfaction  that  his  father 
had  never  called  himself  a  Unitarian ;  that 
he  was  simply  pastor  of  a  Congregational 
Church,  and  a  friend  of  Channing, —  noth 
ing  more.  In  the  course  of  an  acquaint 
ance  of  thirty  years  the  present  writer  never 
heard  him  utter  a  word  upon  the  doctrine 


Il6  THE   POET   AND   THE   MAN 

of  the  Trinity;  it  was  only  inferred  from 
various  circumstances  that  he  sympathized 
with  his  father's  views.  In  his  poems  it  is 
seen  how  little  stress  he  laid  upon  creed ; 
they  only  inculcate  brotherhood,  piety,  and 
love.  There  was  never  an  irreligious  tone 
in  his  conversation,  but  he  seldom  went  to 
church  until  he  reached  middle  age;  and 
when  he  went  it  was  generally  with  his  wife 
to  the  Episcopal  service. 

He  was  pained  and  almost  angry  at  the 
lengths  to  which  the  more  "advanced"  lib 
erals  were  going.  He  was  vehemently 
opposed  to  modern  materialistic  doctrines ; 1 
and,  as  heretofore  related,  declared  that 
for  his  part  he  would  not  "believe  that 
Hamlet  sprang  from  a  clod."  He  loved 
the  Bible,  'often  referred  to  the  Book  of 
Job,  loved  the  beauty  of  a  ritual,  loved 
things  established;  and  meanwhile  his  be 
lief  did  not  appear  to  be  really  fixed  upon 
any  system.  It  is  a  long  step  from  the 
simple  ethics  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
to  a  metaphysical  creed. 

The  sense  of  justice  which  made  him  a 
reformer  was  an  ever-present  ideal,  but 
appeared  to  have  been  evolved  from  the 

1  A  glimpse  of  his  thought  and  feeling  is  shown  in  Credidi- 
mus  Jovem  Regnare* 


BY   INSTINCT  A    CONSERVATIVE  1 17 

intellectual  side;  while,  by  instinct  and 
habit,  he  was  (sentimentally)  a'  conserva 
tive  in  every  fibre  of  his  being.  The  reader 
will  see  a  fine  specimen  of  an  almost  par 
adoxical  analysis  in  the  opening  portion  of 
"  Fitz  Adam's  Story. "  With  a  less  clear  in 
tellect,  and  a  less  faithful  conscience,  he 
might  have  remained  on  the  other  side. 
For  among  reformers  there  were  some  who 
outran  his  convictions  and  were  antipa 
thetic  in  various  ways.  The  name  "  crank, " 
had  not  then  been  invented.  Some  wished 
to  destroy  the  church,  because  it  had  been 
"the  bulwark  of  American  Slavery."  Low 
ell  did  not  wish  to  destroy  an  institution 
which  had  power  for  good,  but  rather  to  see 
it  built  up;  and,  besides,  a  church  with  a 
long  history  behind  it  was  to  him  beautiful 
and  venerable  for  its  own  sake.  He  said 
more  than  once  that  if  the  Calvinistic 
churches  were  to  be  judged  by  the  results 
of  their  teachings  upon  character  and  con 
duct,  as  seen  in  Scotland  and  New  Eng 
land,  those  churches  were  entitled  to  the 
highest  place.  For,  he  said,  the  superiority 
was  not  solely  in  morality  and  intelligence, 
but  in  the  prevalent  sense  of  duty,  in  high 
ideals  and  inflexible  principles,  and,  in 
short,  in  the  consciousness  of  the  spirit- 


Il8        THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 

ual  world  that  was  an  eternal  NOW  with  be 
lievers.  After  due  allowance  made  for 
hypocrites  and  time-servers,  he  thought 
there  were  among  Calvinists  more  godly 
men,  each  living  — 

"  As  ever  in  his  great  Taskmaster's  eye," 

than  in  any  other  branch  of  the  Christian 
church.  And  one  day  he  added,  to  the 
writer's  infinite  surprise,  that,  considered 
as  a  set  of  intellectual  propositions,  the 
"five  points"  appeared  to  form  a  theory 
about  as  reasonable  as  any  other.  He 
seemed  to  advance  this  tentatively,  as  he 
might  have  put  forth  a  metaphysical  spec 
ulation,  and  not  to  intimate  that  he  had  a 
fixed  belief  in  it.  This  was  some  fifteen 
years  ago,  and  the  thought  may  have  been 
temporary.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Savage  lately  in 
a  public  discourse  said  that,  in  the  course 
of  a  conversation  two  or  three  years  ago, 
Lowell  told  him  he  presumed  his  general 
views  upon  religion  were  in  the  main  those 
which  he  (Dr.  Savage)  held.  This  was 
for  Lowell  an  unusual  confidence.  Pos 
sibly  the  contending  theories  were  from 
time  to  time  alternately  in  light  and  in 
shadow.  But  the  doctrines  of  his  poems, 


FAVORITE   AUTHORS  1 19 

reverence,  love,  and  brotherhood,  never  suf 
fered  eclipse  or  change. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  mention  his 
favorite  authors,  for  as  time  went  by  he 
was  continually  laboring  in  new  fields. 
Among  his  early  treasures  were  Froissart, 
—  in  a  manner  the  Walter  Scott  of  his  age, 
—  and  Marco  Polo,  Purchas,  and  Hakluyt, 
authors  who  carried  with  them  a  largeness 
akin  to  nobility,  and  who,  if  they  did 
not  write  poems,  often  suggested  poetry. 
Milton's  line, — 

"And  airy  tongues  that  syllable  men's  names," 

LoweM  said,  was  from  Marco  Polo.  Of 
the  old  dramatists  he  was  most  fond  of 
Marlowe ;  as  for  Chapman,  he  preferred  his 
Homer  to  his  plays.  He  admired  the 
well-ordered  sentences  and  beautful  images 
of  Jeremy  Taylor ;  the  style  of  Hooker,  ear 
liest  of  great  prose-writers,  and  of  Lat- 
imer  and  South.  Undoubtedly  he  had  read, 
the  works  of  Lord  Bacon,  but  he  never  spoke 
of  him.  He  had  an  unspeakable  aversion^ 
to  maxims  like  Rochefoucauld's,  which 
include  a  kernel  of  selfishness  or  an  innu 
endo  of  baseness. 

He    lived    in   the    intellectual    light   of 


120  THE   POET   AND    THE   MAN 

Shakespeare.  He  often  read  passages  of 
Chaucer  to  friends,  and  loved  to  point  out 
the  master-strokes  which  described  a  per 
son  and  revealed  his  character.  It  may  be 
stated  here,  somewhat  out  of  place,  that 
Lowell  once  hoped  to  write  a  New  England 
poem  after  the  manner  of  the  "  Canterbury 
Tales,"  sketching  a  group  of  people  at  a 
nooning  in  the  field,  but  after  "  Fitz  Adam's 
Story  "  he  went  no  farther.  The  reason  is 
not  far  to  seek.  The  burdens  he  assumed 
in  the  university,  his  constant  and  severe 
studies,  and  his  subsequent  duties  as  min 
ister,  combined  to  lead  him  away  from  the 
fresh,  joyous,  creative  mood  in  which  such 
a  composite  and  many-colored  poem  could 
have  been  fashioned. 

This  reference  to  favorite  books  is  ne 
cessarily  brief.  The  attentive  reader  of  his 
essays,  of  "The  Fable  for  Critics,"  and  of 
special  poems,  like  that  in  memory  of  Agas- 
siz,  and  those  upon  Longfellow,  Holmes, 
Quincy  and  Wyman  will  learn  more  than 
can  be  told  here.  But  it  may  be  said  he 
talked  often  about  Emerson,  and  witlj_spe- 
cial  admiration  about  Hawthorne.  He  said 
to  the  writer  he  would  not  venture  a  com 
parison  between  the  latter  and  Shakespeare, 
but  he  believed  the  world  would  sooner  see 


A   STORY   OF    THACKERAY  121 

another   Shakespeare   than   another    Haw 
thorne. 

Among  English  contemporaries  he  ad 
mired  Tennyson  and  Arthur  Hugh  Clough, 
made  only  brief  and  respectful  references  to 
Browning,  and  loved  Thackeray.  Back  in 
the  fifties  Clough  was  for  a  year  Lowell's 
near  neighbor  in  Cambridge. 

It  is  singular  that  Thackeray  had  an  im 
perfect  appreciation  of  Lowell's  poetry. 
He  said  to  the  author  of  this  volume  (July, 
1857),  "With  such  a  genius  for  comedy,— 
greater,  I  believe,  than  any  English  poet 
ever  had,  —  with  such  wit,  drollery,  Yankee 
sense  and  spirit,  I  wonder  he  does  not  see 
his  'best  hold,'  and  stick  to  it.  Why  a 
man  who  can  delight  the  world  with  such 
creations  as  Hosea  Biglow  should  insist 
upon  writing  second-rate  serious  verse  I 
cannot  see."  And  there  was  much  more  of 
the  same  sort.  He  evidently  loved  Lowell, 
for,  in  speaking  of  him  a  little  later,  a  spray 
of  tears  bedimmed  his  large  spectacles ;  but 
he  could  not  see  any  merit  or  "extenuating 
circumstances"  in  his  serious  verse. 

It  was  not  for  a  young  man  of  thirty  to 
argue  with  the  leading  writer  of  Great 
Britain,  but  he  stated  his  opinion  modestly, 
and  then  changed  the  subject.  For  obvious 


122  THE    POET   AND   THE   MAN 

reasons  this  conversation  was  never  fully 
reported  during  Lowell's  lifetime. 

Do  we  yield  to  Thackeray's  judgment, 
given  so  long  ago  ?  By  no  means.  Expe 
rience  has  shown  that  authors  are  not  in 
fallible,  unless  in  special  lines,  and  that 
men  without  creative  genius  offfen  have 
wider  sympathies  and  sounder  judgment. 
Emerson's  "Parnassus"  is  profoundly  in 
teresting  as  showing  the  direction  of  his 
reading,  his  opinions,  and  tastes,  but  as  a 
collection  of  English  poetry  it  is  one  of 
the  most  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory 
ever  made.  Thackeray  was  a  great  man, 
and  a  greater  artist,  in  a  certain  sphere, 
but  he  had  never  any  perception  or  con 
sciousness  of  an  ideal  world.  His  concep 
tion  of  poetry  may,  perhaps,  be  not  unfairly 
gauged  by  his  gay  and  vivacious  ballads. 
It  is  true,  Lowell  had  not  then  written 
"The  Cathedral"  or  "  The  Commemoration 
Ode." 

Complaints  were  made  during  Lowell's 
last  years  of  his  forbidding  manners;  and 
there  were  intimations  that  he  was  less 
American  at  heart  than  British ;  but  nothing 
is  more  certain  than  the  persistence  of  his 
patriotic  feeling  and  his  courage  to  ex- 


COULD   UTTER   UNWELCOME   TRUTHS        123 

press  it  under  all  circumstances.  A  nota 
ble  instance  occurred  at  the  dinner  of  the 
Society  of  Authors  in  London  at  which 
Lowell  made  one  of  his  perfect  speeches. 
He  told  the  audience,  in  substance,  that 
Great  Britain  had  been  in  the  wrong  in  both 
of  the  contests  with  the  United  States ;  and 
that  the  last  war  (1812)  though  insignifi 
cant,  and  not  creditable  to  either  party,  in 
a  military  point  of  view,  was  just  and  ne 
cessary  ;  and  that  by  the  abatement  of  Great 
Britain's  pretensions  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  seas,  and  to  the  right  of  search,  inter 
national  law  had  been  advanced,  and  the 
whole  world  was  the  gainer.  These  were 
not  his  words,  but  what  he  said  was  said 
most  impressively;  and  every  hearer  felt 
that  there  was  a  calm  courage  behind  the 
utterance.  Furthermore,  he  was  always  firm 
in  regard  to  what  he  considered  the  justice 
due  to  Ireland,  though  of  course  he  could 
take  no  part,  while  minister,  in  a  British 
domestic  question. 

As  to  manners,  a  man  of  seventy  who 
has  passed  through  vicissitudes  is  seldom 
effusive,  and  Lowell  certainly  was  no  ex 
ception  to  the  rule.  People  who  expected 
that  Hosea  Biglow  would  be  found  sitting 
on  a  gate  in  Hyde  Park,  whittling  and 


124       THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 

telling  stories,  were  hardly  prepared  to  see 
a  rather  stately  man  in  faultless  dress, 
whose  steady  eyes  repelled  familiarity,  and 
sometimes  rebuked  pretension. 

The    origin    of    the    ill-feeling    towards 
Lowell  was  in  the  false  idea  that  still  pre 
vails    among    our  people  as  to  the  duties 
of   a   minister  at  London.     The  rich  and 
fashionable   who  visit    that   capital    think 
his  chief  duty  is  to  present  them  at  court ; 
and  that  the  ceremony  is  an  affair  about 
which  there  should  be  no  more  difficulty 
than  in  visiting  the  Tower  or  the  Zoologi 
cal    Garden.      There    are    other   supposed 
duties,  such  as  writing  letters  of  introduc 
tion  for  ambitious  people  to  a  great  poet, 
novelist,    or  other  celebrity;    also  looking 
up  in  the  Herald's  College,  or  in  remote 
parochial  registers,   genealogies,    and  evi 
dence  of  descent  from  shadowy  ancestors; 
also   recovering  fortunes,— always  on  de 
posit  at  the  Bank  of  England,  and  crying 
out  for  their  lawful  owners  —  besides  oc 
casionally  cashing  or  guaranteeing  doubtful 
checks.     The  evil  has  become  oppressive 
for   ministers,   and   even  for  consuls,  who 
could  many  a  tale  unfold. 

Now  the  British  Government,  with  great 
courtesy,  allows  the  American  minister  to 


PRESENTATIONS   AT   COURT  125 

present  a  reasonable  number  of  his  country 
men  and  women.  But  any  one  who  knows 
how  great  is  the  crush  of  British  people 
who  have  the  best  right  to  attend  these 
functions,  —  the  necessary  presentation  of 
civil  and  military  officers,  young  and  old, 
upon  being  commissioned  or  promoted; 
the  presentation  of  the  daughters  of  peers 
and  gentlemen  who  must  appear  at  court, 
and  of  the  diplomatic  body,  including  sec 
retaries  and  attaches;  —  any  one  who  knows 
the  facts  will  see  that  the  presence  of  for 
eigners  is  a  grace  which  is  not  to  be  abused. 
Very  few  can  be  presented  without  infrin 
ging  indubitable  rights  in  which  our  people 
have  no  share.  No  such  crowds  are  ever 
pushing  to  the  English  court  from  France, 
Germany,  or  other  European  country;  but 
Americans,  though  often  politically  hostile, 
and  sometimes  discourteous,  to  British 
officials,  seem  to  think  they  have  only  to 
ask,  and  the  gates  of  St.  James  should  fly 
open.  Every  American  minister  for  the 
last  thirty  years  has  had  his  patience 
completely  exhausted  by  the  persistent  de 
sire  of  his  country-women  to  wear  their 
trains  and  diamonds  in  the  presence  of 
the  Queen.  The  pressure  was  calmly  and 
steadfastly  resisted  by  Lowell,  and  with 


126       THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 

the  natural  result.  It  is  almost  certain 
that  many  of  the  reports  of  Lowell's  aris 
tocratic  and  chilling  manners  came  from 
disappointed  aspirants. 

Few  Americans  of  real  distinction  have 
desired  to  be  "presented."  Many  have 
lived  in  Great  Britain  for  years  without 
once  thinking  of  it.  A  man  may  respect 
the  Queen  as  a  sovereign  and  as  a  woman, 
and  yet  not  desire  to  embarrass  his  minis 
ter  or  the  lord  chamberlain,  nor  to  put  on 
an  obsolete  and  uncomfortable  suit  for  the 
sake  of  passing  with  a  bow  before  her 
majesty. 

As  has  been  more  than  once  said,  Lowell 
wrote  with  extreme  care,  but  none  of  his 
prose  appeared  in  book  form  until  after  it 
had  been  kept,  considered,  and  carefully 
gone  over.  He  was  inaccessible  to  offers 
of  money  for  articles  or  poems;  and  in  the 
last  years  of  his  life  enormous  sums  were 
named  as  ready  for  any  contributions  from 
his  pen.  But  he  wrote  only  when  a  subject 
came  to  him  naturally,  and  when  to  write 
was  a  pleasure  and  a  duty.  Had  he  been 
avaricious,  or  even  reasonably  "thrifty," 
he  could  have  earned  a  large  income.  As 
it  was,  he  earned  enough  for  his  wants, 
and  wrote  enough  for  his  fame.  Some  of 


NO   WEALTH   BUT  A   GREAT   NAME  127 

the  possessors  of  great  incomes  from  liter 
ature  find  in  the  end  that  their  wealth  is 
their  chief  reward;  Fame  being  chary  of 
laurels,  and  seldom  bestowing  them  on 
those  who  abuse  her  patience. 

Lowell  left  a  small  estate,  but  a  good  i 
name,  which  is  better  than  riches.  His 
love  for  his  alma  mater  was  shown  by  his 
bequest  of  such  books  in  his  collection  as 
the  college  library  did  not  possess.  He 
watched  the  growth  of  Harvard  with  the 
deepest  interest  and  pride. 

His  association  with  public  life,  though 
flattering  and  honorable,  was  only  an  inci 
dent  in  his  career;  it  was  as  a  scholar,  in 
structor,  essayist,  and  poet  that  he  realized 
his  early  aspirations  and  fulfilled  his 
destiny. 

He  left  his  letters  and  MSS.  in  the  care 
of  his  friend  Norton,  the  faithful  and  ac 
complished  editor  of  Carlyle's  correspon 
dence.  His  let'ters  must  be  full  of  inter 
est,  as  a  record  of  his  life,  as  containing 
the  seed-thoughts  of  his  works,  and  as 
showing  the  play  of  his  delightful  humor. 

His  career  furnishes  an   impressive   les-  l 
son  for   American  youths.     He    made    the 
most  of  his  talents  and  opportunities.     He 
loved    books,    studies,    the    beauty   of   the 


128        THE  POET  AND  THE  MAN 

outer  world,  his  art,  and  his  fellow  men; 
but  chiefly  he  kept  his  eyes  fixed  on  lofty 
ideals,  and  always  listened  to  the  voice  of 
conscience.  He  measured  duty  by  abso 
lute  standards,  and  compromised  nothing 
of  principle.  With  such  a  character,  even 
without  his  phenomenal  gifts  and  graces, 
he  would  have  been  A  Great  Man. 


A    BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

FOR    THE    ASSISTANCE    OF    READERS 
AND  STUDENTS. 

IN  the  list  following  it  is  believed  that  each 
work  is  mentioned,  with  the  date  of  its  original 
publication.  But  there  is  no  attempt  to  give  all 
the  various  new  editions,  new  combinations  or 
arrangements  of  works  which  the  publishers 
have  placed  before  the  public. 

CLASS  POEM1 1838 

A  YEAR'S  LIFE  AND  OTHER  POEMS  .     .  1841 
THE  PIONEER.     A  Magazine.     Nos.  I., 

II.,  and  III 1843 

1  In  the  narration  preceding  it  will  be  seen  that  Lowell  was 
"  in  exile  "  at  the  time  when  the  "  Class  Poem  "  was  to  be  read. 
It  is  dated  at  "Concord,  August,  1838."  In  the  Preface  the 
author  says,  "  Many  of  my  readers  and  all  of  my  friends  know 
that  it  was  not  by  any  desire  of  mine  that  this  rather  slim  pro 
duction  is  printed.  Circumstances  known  to  all  my  readers, 
and  which  I  need  not  dilate  on  here,  considerably  cooled  my 
interest  in  the  performance.'1''  The  poem  covers  45  pages  of 
close  type,  and,  considering  the  age  of  the  writer  (19),  is  a  piece 
of  strong  and  free  versification.  In  its  substance  it  is  mainly  a 
satire  upon  the  abolitionists,  and  upon  the  progressives  in  reli 
gion  and  politics.  The  suggestion  is  that  the  Indian  is  more 
deserving  of  sympathy  than  the  African.  The  use  of  the  phrase 
"  clothes-philosophy "  shows  that  Lowell  had  already  read 
"  Sartor  Resartus." 

129 


I3O  A  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

POEMS 1844 

CONVERSATIONS  ON  SOME  OF  THE  OLD 
POETS 1845 

[Mainly  upon  Chaucer,  the  Old  Dramatists,  Chap 
man,  Ford,  with  incidental  references  to  Pope 
and  others.] 

A  FABLE  FOR  THE  CRITICS  (Anon.)     .  1848 

THE  VISION  OF  SIR  LAUNFAL       .     .     .  1848 

THE  BIGLOW  PAPERS 1848 

NOTABLE  POLITICAL  ARTICLES  IN  THE 

N.  Y.  ANTI-SLAVERY  STANDARD    .     .  1848 

POEMS  (Two  volumes) 1848 

LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF  KEATS    ....  1854 
POEMS  OF  MARIA  WHITE  LOWELL.  Ed 
ited  by  J.  R.  L.     (Privately  printed)     .  1854 
MASON  AND  SLIDELL.     A  Yankee  Idyl. 

(Reprinted  from  the  Atlantic}     .     .     .  1862 
IL  PESCEBALLO.  A  Nonsense-Opera  from 
the  Libretto  in  Italian  of  Prof.  Child. 

About 1862 

FIRESIDE  TRAVELS 1864 

[Containing:  Cambridge  Thirty  Years  ago;  A 
Moosehead  Journal;  At  Sea;  In  the  Mediter 
ranean  ;  Italy  ;  Roman  Mosaics.] 

NEW  ENGLAND  Two  CENTURIES  AGO. 
A  Review  of  Palfrey.  (Reprinted  from 
the  N.  A.  Review} 1865 

COMMEMORATION  ODE  (Sons  of  Har 
vard).  (Privately  printed)  ....  1865 

THE  BIGLOW  PAPERS  (Second  series)    .     1867 


A   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  131 

A  LOOK  BEFORE  AND  AFTER.  (Reprinted 
from  the  JV.  A.  Review) 1867 

WITCHCRAFT.  A  Review  of  C.  W.  Up- 
ham.  (Reprinted  from  the  N.  A.  Re 
view)  1868 

UNDER  THE  WILLOWS 1868 

AMONG  MY  BOOKS 1870 

[Containing :  Dryden  ;  Witchcraft  ;  Shakespeare 
once  more  ;  New  England  Two  Centuries  Ago  ; 
Lessing  and  Rousseau.] 

THE  CATHEDRAL 1870 

MY  STUDY  WINDOWS 1871 

[Containing :  My  Garden  Acquaintance  ;  A  Good 
Word  for  Winter  ;  On  a  Certain  Condescension 
in  Foreigners  ;  A  Great  Public  Character ; 
President  Quincy  ;  Carlyle  ;  Abraham  Lin 
coln ;  J.  G.  Percival;  Thoreau ;  Swinburne's 
Tragedies;  Chaucer;  Library  of  Old  Authors; 
Emerson  the  Lecturer;  Pope.] 

THE  COURTIN'.     (Illustrated)    ....     1874 
DANTE.    A  Review  of  Maria  F.  Rossetti's 

"  Shadow  of  Dante  " 1876 

AMONG  MY  BOOKS  (Second  series)    .     . 

[Containing:  Dante,  Spenser,  Wordsworth,  Mil 
ton,  and  Keats.] 

THREE  MEMORIAL  POEMS 1879 

[Containing :  The  Ode  read  at  Concord,  April  19, 
1875;  The  Ode  read  under  the  Washington 
Elm,  Cambridge,  July  3,  1875 ;  and  The  Ode 
for  July  4,  1876.] 

ADDRESS   UPON   PRESIDENT  GARFIELD. 

(London) 1881 


132  A  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

ADDRESS  AT   THE   DEDICATION  OF  THE 

LIBRARY  IN  CHELSEA,  MASS      .     .     .     1885 
DEMOCRACY,  AND  OTHER  ADDRESSES    .     1886 

[Containing  :  Democracy  ;  Dean  Stanley  ;  Field 
ing  ;  Coleridge  ;  Books  and  Libraries  ;  Words 
worth  ;  Don  Quixote  ;  and  Harvard's  asoth  An 
niversary.] 

POLITICAL  ESSAYS 1888 

[Containing  :  The  American  Tract  Society  ;  The 
Election  in  November ;  E  Pluribus  Unum  ; 
The  Pickens-and-Stealins  Rebellion ;  General 
McClellan's  Report;  The  Rebellion,  Its 
Causes  and  Consequences ;  McClellan  or  Lin 
coln  ?  Reconstruction ;  Scotch  the  Snake  or 
kill  It  ?  The  President  on  the  Stump ;  The 
Seward-Johnson  Reaction ;  The  Place  of  the 
Independent  in  Politics.] 

HEARTSEASE  AND  RUE 1888 

THE   INDEPENDENT   IN   POLITICS.     Ad 
dress  before  the  N.Y.  Reform  Club       .     1888 
A  FABLE  FOR  CRITICS.     With  portraits 

of  authors ,  1890 

LITERARY  AND  POLITICAL  ADDRESSES  .     1891 

[Contents  the  same  as  in  "Democracy,"  with 
three  additions;  viz.,  Tariff  Reform,  The  In 
dependent  in  Politics,  and  Our  Literature.] 

COMPLETE  WORKS  IN  TEN  VOLUMES    .     1891 
LATEST    LITERARY    ESSAYS    AND    AD 
DRESSES.     Edited  by  Professor  Norton.     1891 

[Containing  :  Gray  ;  Landor ;  Walton  ;  Milton's 
Areopagitica  ;  Richard  III.;  Modern  Lan 
guages;  Progress  of  the  World.] 


A   BIBLIOGRAPHY.  133 

THE  OLD   ENGLISH   DRAMATISTS.     Ed 
ited  by  Professor  Norton 1892 

[Containing  :  Marlowe,  Webster,  Chapman,  Beau 
mont  and  Fletcher,  Massinger  and  Ford;  with 
t    an  Introduction.] 

The  Twelve  Lectures  on  English  Poets  and  Poetry  deliv 
ered  in  1854-55  were  fully  reported  in  the  Boston  Daily 
A  dvertiser,  but  have  not  been  collected. 


AFTER-THOUGHTS 


THE  first  after-thought  of  an  author  becomes 
a  preface,  and  serves  as  an  inclined  plane  to  get 
the  reader  up  to  the  subject.  Later,  when  the 
pages  are  stereotyped,  other  belated  thoughts 
may  arise,  chiefly  regrets  for  omissions,  and  for 
the  want  of  qualifications  of  general  statements  ; 
and  these  may  be  an  inclined  plane  to  let  the 
reader  down. 

After-thoughts  are  inevitable  when,  as  in  the 
present  instance,  an  unusual  brevity  has  been 
aimed  at.  With  greater  fulness  a  more  truthful 
impression  would  be  given  to  those  who  only 
partially  know  the  circumstances. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  though  this 
is  intended  to  be  a  reasonably  complete  view  of 
Lowell's  life  (in  miniature),  yet  the  intimate, 
personal  part  of  the  narrative  belongs  mainly  to 
the  period  between  1853  and  1859.  After  1860 
the  circle  of  his  friends  expanded,  and  was  in 
tersected  by  other  and  larger  circles,  until  — 
after  the  overthrow  of  slavery  —  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  find  a  literary  or  a  fashionable 
'35 


136  AFTER-THOUGHTS 

man  in  Boston  who  would  admit  that  he  had  not 
always  admired  Lowell,  and  always  opposed 
slavery. 

In  regard  to  Lowell's  early  friends,  mention 
has  been  made  chiefly  of  neighbors  ;  there  were 
many  in  Boston  and  elsewhere  to  whom  he  was 
warmly  attached.  One  of  these  was  Charles  W. 
Storey,  a  vivacious,  witty,  and  delightful  man, 
whom  Lowell  always  called  his  solicitor.  An 
other  was  Edmund  Quincy,  a  man  of  rare  ability 
and  courtly  manners, — a  picked  man  of  coun 
tries.  As  he  and  Lowell  had  been  co-workers 
in  the  anti-slavery  cause  they  were  united  by 
close  ties.  The  rare  gatherings  of  Quincy's 
friends  at  Bankside  were  memorable. 

It  may  be  mentioned  that   Lowell  would 

not.  or  could  not,  look  upon  the  face  of  a  dead 
friend.  The  writer  went  with  him  to  Quincy's 
funeral,  and  he  declined  to  enter  the  room  where 
the  coffin  was.  He  said  he  could  not ;  that  his 
repugnance,  dread,  or  malaise,  was  not  to  be 
overcome. 

A  further  qualification  must  be  made  more 
prominent,  in  regard  to  literary  friends.  There 
was  never  a  time  in  which  his  relations  with  Pro 
fessor  Child,  George  William  Curtis,  the  Nor- 
tons  of  Shady  Hill,  and  some  others,  were  not 
intimate,  tender,  and  trustful.  So  with  his 
numerous  relatives  in  the  region.  This  is  to  be 
taken  in  connection  with  the  gatherings  on 
Sunday  afternoons,  and  the  Friday  whist  club. 


AFTER-THOUGHTS 


137 


Who  was  Robert  Carter,  so  frequently 

mentioned? 

We  shall  all  have  to  be  "  explained "  some 
day.  He  was  a  man  of  enormous  reading, 
Prescotfs  secretary ;  afterward  an  able  political 
journalist ;  and  finally  advocatns  diaboli,  or  final 
corrector,  in  the  office  of  Appleton's  Cyclopaedia. 
He  lived  first  near  "  The  Willows,"  afterwards 
in  Sparks  Street,  then  an  unknown  region. 

"  For  Sparks  Street  is  a  dark  street, 
And  succory  grows  in  Sparks  Street,  — 
And  lamp-posts  everywhere .'  " 

So  ran  the  ballad,  doubtless  Lowell's.  Carter 
was  short,  plump,  and  very  near-sighted ;  full  of 
spirits,  though  quiet  in  manner,  and  with  a  mem 
ory  that  was  never  at  fault.  Lowell,  who  had 
names  for  most  of  his  friends,  called  him  "  Don 
Roberto,"  or  "  The  Don." 

Notice  in  the  rhymed  preface  to  the  "  Fable 
for  Critics  :  — 

"  I  can  walk  with  the  Doctor,  get  facts  from 
the  Don,  or  draw  out  the  Lambish  quintessence 
of  John."  The  "Doctor"  was  his  brother-in- 
law,  Howe;  and  "John,"  of  course,  was  John 
Holmes,  whose  unfailing  humor  was  much  like 
that  of  Charles  Lamb. 

Carter's  only  book  was  "  A  Summer  Cruise  on 
the  Coast  of  New  England."  It  ran  through 
many  editions.  Mrs.  Carter  wrote  some  delight- 


138  AFTER-THOUGHTS 

ful  children's  books,  among  them  "  The  Great 
Rosy  Diamond,"  which  after  forty  years  still 
retains  its  popularity. 

The  little  house  in  Sparks  Street  long  ago 
gave  place  to  modern  villas,  but  it  remains  in 
memory  as  one  of  the  alternate  stations  of  the 

whist  club. 

John   Bartlett   says   that    Lowell,    some 

months  before  his  death,  sat  down  with  him, 
John  Holmes,  and  Charles  F.  Choate,  and  they 
all  strove  to  bring  back  the  light  and  warmth 
of  long  ago.  In  the  old  times  Lowell  always 
proposed  the  toast  of  "  THE  CLUB"  with  great 
emphasis  ;  and  on"  this  occasion,—  the  last  on 
earth,  as  it  proved  to  be,  — he  gave  the  old 
toast  with  evident  emotion,  as  shown  by  a  break 
in  his  voice  and  a  quivering  of  the  eyelids.  It 
was  about  that  time  when  the  striking  but  rather 
pathetic  photograph  of  Lowell  was  taken  by 
Pach. 


OFTHE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


>-o 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


OCT  28  1933 


MWIWI 


V  20  t94 


1 


••'-•-.    "/ 


LD  21-100m-7,'33 


2106! 


